Liguria is a beautiful strip of countryside that unites sea and mountains and whose cuisine is much appreciated for its simplicity and delicacy. Vegetables here are some of Italy’s best, as are the wild greens and herbs that are used for filling ravioli and producing the area’s famous pesto. Meat plays a less important role in Ligurian cuisine as, surprisingly, does fish, but rabbit is commonly found, normally made into coniglio alla ligure, and fish along the coast, as a tasty fish soup called ciuppin.
Traditional dishes:
Trofie al Pesto: Pasta with Pesto
Ingredients
- For the trofie:
- 350 g flour
- Salt
- For the pesto:
- 30 fresh basil leaves, washed and patted dry
- 200 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 30 g pine nuts
- 50 g Parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
- To make the pasta, place the flour on a clean work surface and form it into a hillock shape, with a well in the middle.
- Add a good pinch of salt and enough tepid water to obtain a pliable dough.
- Pull very small pieces of the dough off and roll them with your thumb, one by one, along the work surface to form tiny twists of pasta.
- Make the pesto by placing the fresh basil, the olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and a pinch of salt in a food processor and whiz briefly.
- Add the grated parmesan and whiz again until you have a well mixed cream.
- Cook the trofie in abundant boiling, salted water.
- Drain as soon as they are cooked al dente, reserving a little of the pasta water.
- Dress the trofie with the pesto, adding as much of the cooking water as necessary to obtain a creamy sauce.
- Serve immediately.
Number of servings (yield): 4
Coniglio alla Ligure: Rabbit Ligurian Style
Ingredients
- 1 rabbit, cut into small pieces
- ½ onion, minced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 sprig each of rosemary, thyme, marjoram, sage, finely chopped
- 50 g black olives
- 30 g pine nuts
- Chilli pepper
- 1 glass dry white wine
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Heat a good drizzling of olive oil in a large terracotta pot and toss in the chopped onion, garlic and herbs.
- Stir them around for a couple of minutes then add the olives, the pine nuts and the pieces of rabbit.
- Cook until the rabbit has begun to get a little color, turning often so it browns evenly.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour in the wine, let it evaporate a little then add half a glass of water.
- Cover and cook over a low heat until rabbit is tender, about 40 to 50 minutes.
- Check seasoning and serve.
Number of servings (yield): 4
Pansooti con Preboggion: Stuffed Ligurian Pasta
Ingredients
- For the pasta:
- 400 g flour
- Pinch of salt
- 120 g water
- 2 tsp white wine
- For the filling:
- 700 g baby chard and borage
- 2 eggs
- 50 g grated Parmesan cheese
- 150 g ricotta
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Salt
- For the walnut sauce:
- 500 g walnuts with shells
- 50 g ricotta
- 50 g extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Slice of bread, soaked in milk
- 50g butter for serving
Instructions
- Rinse the baby chard and borage and cook it in its own water until tender (5 – 10 minutes).
- Once cooked, squeeze out any extra moisture and chop finely.
- Put the chopped chard and borage in a bowl, and mix with the eggs, grated Parmesan, ricotta and minced garlic and salt to taste.
- Prepare the pasta by mixing the flour and salt with the water and white wine and work until you have a smooth pliable dough.
- Roll out pasta either by hand or using a pasta machine until you have a very thin sheet of pasta.
- Cut out a series of 6 cm squares.
- Place a little ball of filling at the center of each piece of pasta and fold over one half of the pasta square to cover the filling and make a triangle shape.
- Press well along the two edges with your fingers to ensure pasta doesn’t open while cooking.
- Prepare the walnut sauce by shelling the walnuts and blanching them for a minute or two in boiling water.
- Drain, then peel off the thin skin that covers the nuts.
- Place the nuts in a food processor with ricotta and olive oil, a pinch of salt and the slice of soaked bread slightly squeezed of excess milk and whiz together.
- Cook the pansooti in abundant salted boiling water and remove when they float to the top of the pan.
- Drain, toss with the butter and mix gently with the walnut sauce.
- Serve immediately.
Number of servings (yield): 4
Focaccia
Ingredients
- 20 g fresh yeast
- 400 g flour
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 75 ml Ligurian extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Melt the yeast in a little tepid water.
- Place the flour in a bowl and stir in the fine salt.
- Pour in the oil and the yeast, and mixing quickly, add as much tepid water as you need to form a loose, smooth pliable dough.
- Kneed for two minutes then place in a clean, oiled bowl, cover with a clean damp tea towel and leave until it has doubled in size, approx. 1 – 2 hours.
- Punch the dough down and place it in a well oiled cookie sheet, pressing dough so it reaches into the corners.
- Cover again, and leave to rise for about another hour or so.
- Press your fingers all over the surface of the focaccia to form small indentations, drizzle over the remaining oil and sprinkle with the sea salt.
- Bake in an oven preheated to 420ºF for about 20 minutes or until the surface is pale gold in color.
- Serve immediately or re-heat in a warm oven before eating.
Number of servings (yield): 4
Latte Fritto: ‘Fried Milk’
Ingredients
- 4 eggs, plus two egg yolks
- 150 g sugar
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 liter whole fat milk
- 150 g flour
- 100 g breadcrumbs
- Olive oil for frying
- Icing sugar for decoration
Instructions
- Beat together the four eggs, the sugar and the lemon zest until the mixture becomes pale and fluffy.
- Slowly incorporate the flour and milk.
- Cook this mixture over a very low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring continuously as you would polenta.
- Pour this mixture into an oiled shallow tin, cover with tin foil and leave to cool overnight.
- Cut resulting firm cream into diamond shapes.
- In a bowl, beat the two egg yolks and, in a deep frying pan, heat the olive oil.
- Dip the diamonds into the egg yolks and then into the breadcrumbs and fry in the hot oil until golden brown on all sides.
- Remove from frying pan and place on some kitchen paper to absorb excess oil.
- Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.
Number of servings (yield): 4