Gastronomia

La cucina tipica Ligurian cuisine is definitely "Mediterranean": olive oil, fresh vegetables and wild herbs give flavor to the simple and genuine dishes of a healthy gastronomic tradition. A wide selection of wines produced on the sunny hills are the ideal to match the local food. Pesto, the typical basil and pine nut sauce, is more than a gastronomic specialty: it's the symbol of Liguria and "ambassador" of the local cuisine. Other famous dishes are "buridda" (a fish soup) and "cima" (a pocket of meat stuffed with vegetables and herbs); dried cod and stockfish are some of the main ingredients in traditional recipes. In the hinterland, where chestnut woods are plentiful, mushrooms reign at the table: cooked "Genoese style" (with potatoes, garlic and basil) or breaded and fried, they are well worth a visit at a trattoria in the right season. There are also many worthy desserts and home made liqueurs to finish the meal. The aroma of the simple and popular focaccia and farinata can be smelled at every street corner making it impossible to resist a snack: focaccia is the Ligurian symbol while "farinata", ", a thin kind of focaccia made with chick pea flour must be eaten hot any moment during the day; also the vegetable pies are exquisite and every area has a different recipe for it. Fish is the principal ingredient in the restaurants of the seaside resorts and can be tasted in many different ways:seafood risotto, spaghetti with clams, oven baked giltheads and sea bass to name a few. The Christmas "pandolce genovese" is the most famous Ligurian sweet, it is very similar to the Milanese panettone with pine nuts, candied fruit and raisins but more compact I Vini Cinque Terre : straw yellow of varying intensity, it is a dry white wine which matches perfectly with dishes like "mesciua" (chickpea and bean soup), fish soup, spaghetti with anchovies, seafood risotto, spaghetti with clams, fried anchovies, stockfish in sauce,gilthead or bream in foil, "tarantina", fried dried cod and sword fish. It must be served at a temperature of 11 degrees Celsius, in chalice glasses with a long stem. It is at its best the first year of life. It is produced in hilly territories such as in the Monterosso, Vernazza and Riomaggiore areas and part of La Spezia's territory. The traditional production of Cinque Terre was already spoken of by Pliny the Old and many have loved this wine from Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio to Giosuè Carducci Pigato: bright straw yellow, it is a dry white wine which matches perfectly with a variety of dishes like eggs à la Bretonne sturgeon salad, "reginette" with perch and egg onion tart, vegetable ravioli and corzetti with butter, marjoram and sage, shrimp risotto. It must be served at a temperature of 10° Celsius in medium sized chalice glasses with a long stem. It is at its best the first year of life. The production area includes various vineyards both on hills and on planes of many municipalities. Vermentino: straw yellow with golden tones, it is a dry white wine which matches perfectly with dishes like corzetti with butter, marjoram and sage; pansotti with walnut sauce; cuttlefish ink risotto; fish ravioli in broth; oven baked striped sea bass. Very much liked by Foscolo, it must be served at a temperature of 10° Celsius in chalice glasses with a long stem. Produced with grapes from the vermentino vine it is at its best the first year of life. The production area comprises very many hillside areas in the province of Imperia.