The Last of the Summer Pastas: Lo Scarpariello

This fresh cherry tomato and basil delight tastes just as good as autumn begins

Today might mark the start of autumn, but this week I want to share with you this wonderfully summery dish anyway: Pasta allo scarpariello, or Shoemaker’s Style Pasta. With its sauce made with lightly sautéed fresh cherry tomatoes and abundant basil, it’s practically summer on a plate. But no matter, even if the leaves are starting to fall and the calendar says otherwise, the days are still warm and sunny this weekend, and I had a hankering for something that would keep the season going, even if for just one more day.

Scarpariello is one of those sauces that you can whip up on the fly, in the time it takes to cook the pasta: you lightly sauté garlic in olive oil (add a pinch of hot pepper if you want a kick) then cherry tomatoes, split in half, and a few fresh basil leaves, which you sauté just until they start to wilt. Then in goes the cooked pasta, along with lots of grated cheese and more basil. Toss it all together and you’re ready to eat.

Pasta allo scarpariello has its origins in the Quartieri Spagnoli or Spanish Quarter, a working class neighborhood in central Naples. The story goes that on Mondays shoemakers’ wives would make a quick and easy pasta with the ragù leftover from Sunday dinner, stretched with lots of grated cheese to make it go further. Somehow over the years—and I haven’t been able to find out how—the long simmered ragù was replaced with lightly sautéed fresh tomatoes.

Today this workaday dish has become quite trendy. You’ll find it on the menus of tony restaurants in Naples and the nearby Amalfi Coast. I had it a couple of times when I was in the area this past summer, in one case paired as a duetto with that other pasta of the moment, spaghetti alla Nerano.

For Italian-Americans, the name scarpariello might be confusing. There’s an Italian-American chicken dish of the same name. You might guess this is just another example of the Italian-American fondness for meat, especially chicken, like the way parmigiana di melanzane turned into Chicken Parm. But in the case of the Scarpariello cousins, the two dishes have absolutely nothing in common. My best guess is that the same nickname got attached to two dishes that have real connection otherwise.

Anyway, whatever you call it, it’s a delicious and easy dish. And an excellent way to enjoy the last of your summer basil.

Post scriptum: I want to apologize to regular readers for my month-long absence from blogging, the longest in the blog’s 15 year history. Unfortunately it wasn’t the usual August break. I had a family emergency which required an extended trip out of town. Truth be told, that’s the main reason you’re getting this summer recipe a little later than I had planned…

Anyway, thankfully things are back (more or less) to normal now. I plan to get back to regular weekly blogging through the end of October, when I’ll be traveling back to Rome for a bit. Thanks so much for your understanding and patience!

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Wonderful for dressing pastas like spaghetti or ziti, and even better still in a Neapolitan style lasagna di Carnevale. Yes, it takes time, but it’s not complicated. And so worth it.

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Milanese con insalata di pomodoro (Milanese Veal Chop with Tomato Salad)

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It’s a simple combination that looks and tastes like summer on a plate. Even though I usually don’t care for breaded items in tomato sauce (a common Italian-American conceit in dishes like Chicken ‘Parm’) I do find this combination of the breaded meat with fresh tomato simply to die for. Go figure.

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Pasta al tonno a modo mio (Pasta with Tuna Sauce “My Way”)

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