Frandura is a potato bake: thin slices of potato covered with a flour batter and baked until golden and crisp on top, soft inside. It comes from Montalto, now part of the municipality of Montalto Carpasio, in the hills of the province of Imperia: the area is the Valle Argentina, the same valley as Taggia and Badalucco. So it is not strictly a dish of Taggia.
The recipe is simple: potatoes, flour, oil and usually a little cheese. There are no vegetables in it, and eggs only appear in some versions. There is no official specification, so below you get a base recipe and we tell you where recipes differ. It belongs to the poor-kitchen side of Ligurian cooking, like farinata and testaroli.
- Origin: Montalto (Montalto Carpasio), province of Imperia, Valle Argentina
- Total time: about 45 minutes (15 prep, 30 in the oven)
- Servings: 4
- Difficulty: easy
- Key ingredients: potatoes, flour, milk, extra virgin olive oil, grated cheese
- When it is eaten: lunch or dinner, as a starter or light main, hot or warm; Montalto holds a summer festival for it
Ingredients
For 4 people, in a baking dish of about 22 cm:
- 500 g yellow-fleshed potatoes
- 130 g plain flour (Italian 00)
- 180 ml milk
- 40 g grated pecorino or Parmesan
- extra virgin olive oil, as needed
- salt and black pepper
- fresh marjoram (optional)
Contains gluten and milk. Eggs are not needed in the base version.
How to make it
- Heat the oven to 200 °C (400 °F), conventional mode, no fan.
- Peel the potatoes, dry them and slice them very thin, ideally with a mandoline. Salt them.
- Oil a baking dish and spread the slices in one even layer, slightly overlapping.
- Make the batter: mix the flour with a pinch of salt and add the milk little by little, whisking until smooth. Stir in a drizzle of oil, the pepper and, if you like, the marjoram.
- Pour the batter over the potatoes and level it with a spoon so it covers the whole surface.
- Sprinkle with the grated cheese and add a thread of oil.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, until a golden crust forms. Check after 20 minutes.
- Let it rest for a few minutes, then cut into squares.
Tips and common mistakes
- Slice thin and even. Thick or uneven slices stay hard in the stated baking time: use a mandoline.
- Salt well. Both potatoes and batter need it, or the bake tastes flat.
- Pourable batter. It must cover the potatoes and run between the slices: if it is too thick, add a little milk.
- Do not stack too many layers. One recipe uses two at most; with a single layer, as here, the crust is crisper.
- Check after 20 minutes. Ovens differ. If the top is not golden, finish under the grill for a few minutes.
- Leftovers. It keeps in the fridge for a couple of days and reheats in the oven.
Variations
- With water. Some cooks use only water instead of milk, for a poorer version; some sources also describe it without cheese.
- With eggs. A few recipes add eggs to the batter for a richer bake.
- Spices and herbs. Nutmeg or marjoram, depending on the family.
- Grated potatoes. Some grate the potatoes instead of slicing them.
- With toma. One source serves it with Toma di Mendatica, a mountain cheese from the Imperia hinterland.
Quantities vary from family to family: in Montalto the recipe is handed down at home.
History and origin
Frandura is peasant food: few ingredients, whatever was in the house. The potato spread in Liguria between the 18th and 19th centuries and made a dish like this possible, but sources give no firm date and do not explain the name. Montalto Ligure and Carpasio have been a single municipality since 1 January 2018, Montalto Carpasio (regional law 21/2017), which is why older maps still say Montalto Ligure.
The village is small and climbs the hill, with stone lanes and dry-stone walls. Think of it as a day trip from the coast, not a place to eat in any season.
Where to try it in Liguria
The place to go is Montalto: the Riviera dei Fiori tourist board mentions a summer festival dedicated to frandura. Dates and programme change every year, so ask the municipality of Montalto Carpasio (tel. +39 0184 407004). Outside the festival we found no restaurants serving it that are confirmed by official sources, and we do not name places we cannot verify.
On the coast you can base yourself in Arma di Taggia or Taggia: the Valle Argentina starts at Taggia, and a bus link from Taggia-Arma station to Montalto is listed (check runs and times before you go). In the same valley, Badalucco is the place for stockfish; for the local oil see oil and mills at Dolcedo. More ideas in our guide to Ligurian food, next to focaccia.
Frequently asked questions
Is frandura from Taggia?
No: sources place it in Montalto, now Montalto Carpasio, in the Valle Argentina. Taggia is in the same valley and is the handiest base on the coast.
Does frandura contain vegetables or eggs?
Not in the base recipe: only potatoes, flour, oil and cheese. Eggs appear in some versions; we found no recipe with other vegetables.
How long and at what temperature?
The recipes we compared give 200 °C conventional for 20 to 30 minutes; one goes up to 45. Check after 20 minutes and finish under the grill if it is not golden.
Is it eaten hot or cold?
Both: good hot from the oven, also warm or cold. Leftovers keep in the fridge for a couple of days and reheat in the oven.
Is it gluten-free?
No, it contains wheat flour and, in the base version, milk and cheese.
Is it the same as farinata?
No. Farinata is made with chickpea flour; frandura has potatoes and a wheat-flour batter.
Does it have a DOP, IGP or De.Co. label?
We found neither a specification nor an official label. For more, ask the municipality of Montalto Carpasio.