Brandacujun is a West Liguria dish that combines land and sea, based on potatoes and stockfish, where extra virgin olive oil is a key ingredient. In Italian cuisine, extra virgin olive oil is generally used as a condiment or as a base for fried foods. However, there are some regional dishes in which oil plays a really relevant role, becoming one of the main ingredients. In Liguria, a region known for its abundance of olive oil, among the recipes that pay tribute to our “liquid gold”, there is the famous “Brandacujun”. It is a preparation very similar to mashed potatoes, where potatoes and boil ..read more

Here my Fabbrizii Aperitif with aromatic herb biscuits Try this, and then this, and then this. Which one do you like best? Sage, marjoram, rosemary? You don’t know how to decide! Maybe it’s better to try again. Here’s what happens if you bring a steaming basket of aromatic herb cookies on the table. Everyone is happy to go spoiled for choice of the best.  After all, how cannot be attractive some hot oven-baked savory cookies that give off a subtle scent of blooming meadows?  And how can they not call another taste when the first one has melted in your mouth in all its buttery ..read more

Large fish ravioli – round or square – are characteristic of the entire Ligurian coast. The filling consists of white fish flesh (preferably rock fish, very tasty), escarole and borage. As to the curious name of this preparation, “zembi” might come from the Arabic word “zembil”, the basket of twisted leaves made for transporting fish, reminding us of the close connection that Liguria had with the Arab countries during the middle ages. Whilst the word “arzillo” in Genoese dialect is the pungent fragrance of seaweed that grows  between the rocks right by the sea. These ..read more

The fritters in the Communion wafer (Friti in ta négia, in dialect) are really a dish of the past. One of those that are written in all the classic books of Ligurian recipes, but that does not prepare anyone anymore. A recipe that for our generation sways between the mysterious and the mystical. Yet it is a dish that really does not deserve oblivion. His only “fault”, like many other dishes that are disappearing, is to have an ingredient not easily available in every local supermarket, ie the Communion wafer (the one to cook, not the one to be blessed). However, it’s more a psychological obst ..read more

Looking for a gift, especially for Christmas, isn’t it becoming a little bit stressful for you too?  Bombarded by a commercial countdown that starts after Halloween, flooded with social and work commitments on the Christmas eve (which once was December 24, now if it goes well, it starts on the Immaculate day), I live the moment of the search for the gift as yet another “commission to be done” before the fateful 25th December.  I seem to lose, as on many other fronts, the sense of the gesture and the pleasure in doing so. Giving something to someone requires commitment, thought, time ..read more

Directly from the Maritime Alps, from the mountains of the extreme Western Liguria where a pastoral cuisine called “white cuisine” dominates, comes a simply surprising recipe of potatoes “in ta foglia”, or in the pan in Ligurian dialect. Potatoes, leeks, milk, all white. Few ingredients for a main dish that tastes of autumn, mountain, home. “in ta foglia” Potatoes Ingredients 800 grams of potatoes 2 leeks 250 ml of cream 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese Extra virgin olive oil 500 ml of whole milk Salt and Pepper Instructions Preheat the oven to 200 ºC Peel and wash the potatoes and ..read more

For the French author Michel Tournier, cheese is, together with bread and wine, the trinity of the European table. They are made of milk, meadows, pastures, perfumes and cellars where they are aged and perhaps no other food such as cheeses, contains in itself the tradition the history, the customs of the place where it is produced. And Liguria cheese they are no less! In this post we will make an ideal journey from the west to the east of Liguria, passing through the area of Genoa. An indicative and deliberately not too detailed description of Ligurian cheeses, but that can be of help to unde ..read more

Every Italian region has its own cold cuts. Every peasant family, every village, had its recipes handed down from generation to generation to preserve for a long time that pork bred for years in the back yard and then killed just before Christmas. In today’s post we make a journey through the traditional salami of Liguria (for the sake of par condicio going in alphabetical order) A simple and brief description, but that can be of help if you are planning some gastronomic trip in our beautiful region and want to discover or recognize in the menus of restaurants the most traditional and represe ..read more

Baci di Alassio (literally kisses from Alassio) are one of the most representative sweets of the West Italian Riviera. Made up with hazelnut and chocolate, they were invented and patented by the famous pastry chef Rinaldo Balzola, owner of the homonymous Pasticceria Balzola in Alassio, in 1919. Mr. Balzola created these tiny sweets specifically to leave a gastronomic souvenir to tourists visiting Alassio. In fact, in the early 1900s, Alassio began to establish itself as a tourist destination attracting visitors not only from neighboring regions, but also from England and Germany. At the ..read more

Do you know the Beigua Park? It is one of the great protected natural parks of Liguria that stretches behind Arenzano and Varazze, west of Genoa. It is internationally recognized by UNESCO as a geo-park for its spectacular morphology.  For its particular position straddle the watershed of the Apennines and for its proximity to the sea, Beigua Regional Park is considered one of the most important areas of Liguria for its biodiversity.  foto credits Monica Saettone Today, however, I want to show you Beigua Park through my lenses, those of someone who love to eat and hunt for good thi ..read more