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| Gastronomical specialities |
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Gastronomical specialities |
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The colours, perfumes and flavours of the Riviera are epitomised by its cooking: natural, simple and delicious.
Vegetables are a favourite ingredient in the “poor” cuisine of the Riviera; foods are dressed solely with the purest olive oil, produced by crushing “taggiasca” olives, a small fleshy black variety.
The dishes of the Riviera are exceptionally delicate, some credit must go to the wonderfully light oil used to dress them.
Foods which evoke the traditional flavours of the countryside, the very different but beautifully fresh tastes of the forest and vegetable garden.
Wood-fired ovens are used courgette flowers stuffed with vegetables and herb tarts which cloche their vegetable filling in a wafer-thin layer of pastry. Different ingredients are used with each new season (chard, “borragini” or herbs, artichokes, courgettes, pumpkin).
“Cundiun” brings out all the fresh flavour of delicious home-grown tomatoes while “pomodori secchi” (tomatoes dried) are a centuries-old, natural way of keeping in all their goodness for the Winter. The tomatoes are dried in the sun, wrapped in basil leaves and stored in glass jars filled with oil.
When it comes to first courses, “ravioli” are unrivalled for their shape and ingredients.
Pasta is rolled into long narrow strips and filled with chard or “borragini”, egg, grated “parmigiano” cheese and marjoram and pressed together at the ends.
Main courses stem from country-dwellers’ traditional habit of making the best of what is available; there are delicious rabbit stews cooked in earthenware dishes, goat, kid, lamb and game.
I ‘Fagioli bianchi di Pigna’ (white beans), of high quality, happily accompany fancy dishes as well as local recipies.
Among the seasonal produce are mushrooms and truffles from the hinterland area.
Naturally the Riviera Ligurian cuisine has also marine characteristic, with extensive consumption of fish and crustaceans: fish like anchovy, the small white bait, white bream, sea bass and many others, are common fare. Stockfish is also a basic ingredient of many local recipes, more the “brandacujun”.
All the skill and imagination of home-cooking goes into making “pansarole”, aniseed-flavoured little sweet (dessert) or fried pastry cakes which are served with warm zabaglione; “bugie” flavoured with orange blossom water and “michette”, with their highly significant shape and inimitable flavour.
Ruling over the wines of the Riviera is the majestic "Rossese di Dolceacqua" D.O.C. a noble wine which is strong and full-bodied by nature. It is ruby red in colour (or carnet if aged), soft, aromatic and warm on the palette.
Riviera Ligure di Ponente D.O.C. wines include a number of outstanding whites such as "Vermentino", pale straw yellow in colour with a distinctively fruity, delicate bouquet and dry, refreshing and well-rounded on the palette, "Pigato", varying shades of pale straw yellow in colour, has a characteristically heady, winey bouquet, a full, dry, slightly bitter, almond-like flavour.
The Riviera dei Fiori, then, is more than a land of colours, sea and climate. It is the pleasure of enjoying traditional foods baked to age-old recipes, skilfully blended to create a healthy diet for all.
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