Traditional recipes of the Riviera dei Fiori

Frisciöi

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Succulent, soft and pale yellow coloured fritters, “frisciöi” are traditional finger food employed as hors d’oeuvres, but wonderful and tasty also as snacks. Once, they were sold in all frying shops, while nowadays they are mostly found in the historic areas of villages where the love for tradition and the respect for local culture are still strong. Born of inventiveness and ability, these old but yet modern tasting fritters are found in all country fairs, parties and afternoons spent outdoors. Batter is the basis to which many different ingredients can be added according to taste, such as green beets, borage, spring onions, quartered artichokes, courgettes, beans, squash flowers, stockfish, and so on. For a crispier batter delete the eggs, for a thicker one use brewer’s yeast. Yeast can be substituted with sparkling mineral water or beer.

Ingredients:

Batter (yields approximately 30 fritters) 2 whole eggs, approx. 100 gm flour, 2 glasses beer or sparkling water, salt to taste. Mix the ingredients to get a smooth batter with which you can “write” on oil.

Preparation:

Stockfish fritters. Bring a pot of water to a boil, quickly dunk 300 gm of dried and salted codfish into it to soften it and free it from the bones and skin, and break the stockfish into pieces. Mix the fish with a batter made with flour, water, brewer’s yeast and an egg. Spoon and fry the mixture into hot olive oil. Courgette fritters. Coarsely grate 250 gm of courgettes, add 4 finely sliced spring onions, a pinch of marjoram, and a pinch of salt. Add to the batter and spoon into deep hot olive oil. Squash fritters. Dunk whole squash flowers into a batter of water, flour and salt. Fry in deep hot oil.

Farinata

It is a specialty of West Liguria and very hard to find outside this area. It can be tasted in winter in typical taverns, as those on the quay of the port of Oneglia, baked in a log-fire oven and eaten hot on the spot. It can also be made home, provided you have a very large and shallow baking tin (with a diameter of at least 38 cm).

It is a recipe of ancient origin: it dates back to the 12th century , at the time of Saracens' presence in Liguria. They used to crush the ingredients in a mortar, thus obtaining a batter they cooked in shallow terra-cotta or stone baking pans. Of the same origin are other typical Ligurian recipes like pesto and testaroli.

Ingredients:

500 gr chickpea flour, 1 ½ l water, 150 gr extra virgin olive oil, 3 teaspoonfuls salt.

Preparation:

In a big bowl make a smooth batter by slowly pouring the lukewarm water on the chickpea flour. If necessary skim off the scum, add oil and salt and let it stand/rest for 2/3 hours.

Pre-heat a gas or electric oven to 260° and use only the upper part where the temperature is at its highest; if you have a log-fire oven, move embers to one side and add long and thin branches to the fire, remembering to turn the tin to obtain even cooking of the whole preparation.

Pour 5/6 mm of batter in an oiled tin, possibly a shallow copper tin with round brim. For a crunchy result add the rest of the oil, blending it into the batter with a wooden spoon. It is ready after approximately 15 minutes, when it has a typical golden brown color. Serve very hot with black pepper.

Green tomatoes in oil

The tradition of preserving foods and vegetables in oil is very old: it allows us to enjoy the delicacies
of the garden even out of season, or when there are shortages.

Ingredients :

1 kg of tomatoes, 1 onion, 3-4 cloves of garlic, oregano, 1 l of vinegar, white wine, coarse salt, extra virgin olive oil

Preparation :

Cut up the tomatoes, put them in a basin, sprinkle salt over them and leave them for a couple of hours. Remove the vegetation water, add the garlic and sliced onion, pour on the vinegar and leave for twenty-four hours. Eliminate the garlic and onion, strain and rinse the tomatoes with the wine and pour them into jars, dusting each layer with plenty of oregano. Cover with oil above the level of the tomatoes. They will be ready to eat in a couple of months.