Ligurian cooking is built on a few good things: basil, olive oil, chickpeas, anchovies, wild herbs, ricotta. Here you will find the traditional recipes one by one: ingredients, steps, common mistakes, regional variations and where to taste them. There are thirteen dishes, from pesto to farinata, from testaroli to canestrelli.
- How they are written: a base recipe for 4 people, with the variations and the quantities on which sources disagree
- Pasta: pesto, testaroli, pansoti, mandilli, corzetti
- Bread and focaccia: Genoese focaccia, farinata
- Fish: stuffed anchovies, cappon magro
- Festive and country dishes: cima, torta pasqualina, frandura
- Sweets: Ligurian canestrelli
Pasta and sauces
Pesto is the sauce that identifies Liguria, and almost all Ligurian pasta is dressed with it or with walnut sauce.
- Genoese pesto: the mortar recipe, with the mistakes to avoid.
- Testaroli: the pasta of Lunigiana, between Tuscany and the Levante, cooked on a testo and cut into diamonds.
- Pansoti with walnut sauce: pasta filled with wild herbs and prescinseua, with a sauce that is never heated.
- Mandilli de sea: the «silk handkerchiefs», very thin sheets with pesto.
- Corzetti: the stamped discs of the Levante and the figure-of-eight corzetti of the Val Polcevera.
Bread and focaccia
Every Ligurian bakery and café has its own focaccia. The cheese focaccia of Recco is something else: you will find it in our guide to the focaccia of Recco.
- Genoese focaccia: thick, with olive oil and brine.
- Chickpea farinata: chickpea flour, water, oil and a very hot oven; with the socca of Nice, for readers coming from the Côte d’Azur.
Fish
- Ligurian stuffed anchovies: fresh anchovies filled with breadcrumbs and cheese.
- Cappon magro: the dish of fish, vegetables and sailor’s biscuit, which is not capponadda.
Festive and country dishes
- Cima alla genovese: a stuffed veal breast, served cold.
- Torta pasqualina: herbs, prescinseua and eggs, for Easter and Easter Monday.
- Frandura: the potato dish of Montalto, in the Argentina Valley.
Sweets
- Ligurian canestrelli: shortbread biscuits shaped like a flower.
For the typical products of a specific area, such as the amaretti of Sassello or the stockfish of Badalucco, see the amaretti of Sassello and the stockfish of Badalucco.
Where to taste these dishes
You learn recipes at home, but the best place to taste them is their home town: in Genoa pesto, cima, focaccia and farinata; in Recco and Camogli the cheese focaccia and the fish; in Rapallo the pansoti; in Sarzana and La Spezia the testaroli; in Sassello the amaretti. For wine pairings, see Ligurian wines. For the big picture, the guide to Ligurian cuisine.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most famous Ligurian dish?
Genoese pesto, but focaccia, farinata and anchovies matter just as much in Liguria. Each area then has its own dishes: testaroli in the Levante, frandura in the hinterland of the Ponente.
Are these the «official» recipes?
No: for almost every dish there is no single recipe. We write a base version and say where the sources differ; quantities vary from family to family.
Which dishes are eaten at Easter and Christmas?
Torta pasqualina is the dish of Easter and Easter Monday; cima and cappon magro are festive dishes. Dates and restaurants change every year: ask on the spot.
Where can I find the ingredients outside Liguria?
Basil, Ligurian olive oil and prescinseua are the hardest to find. In each recipe page we list the most common substitutes and say what changes.