Easy Italian Recipes

The Coastal Garden

Boomerang-shaped Liguria is a long strip of Italian Riviera, with Genoa at its center and the coastal towns of the Cinque Terre and Portofino along its coast. Just a few
miles inland, the Alps and the Apennines rise steeply, and the land between the mountains and the sea is like a great kitchen garden, where the salty breeze and temperate climate are ideai for growing asparagus, artichokes, eggplants (aubergines), greens, and especially herbs, including the region's famous basil. The birthplace of Columbus, Genoa has been a center of seafaring and exploration for centuries. But unlike in Venice, where the spice trade seasoned the cuisine, the Genoese preferred to sell the spices they imported to others, relying on local herbs for seasoning, a preference that remains to this day. In the past, Ligurian sailors returning from long sea voyages yearned for fresh vegetables and greens, and local produce is stili centrai to the cuisine, as evidenced by the region's celebrated vegetable-laden minestrone. Because the Ligurian Sea is not as rich a source of seafood as other, warmer Italian seas, fish and shellfish are not the dietary mainstays one might expect in a coastal region. But cooks here make the most of mussels, clams, eels, and sudi small fish as mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and mullet, as well as salt cod, a legacy of the region's seafaring heritage.

Culinary Signature: Pesto

Pesto—young basil leaves, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts, and Sardinian pecorino cheese pounded to a paste in a mortar—is Liguria's great contribution to world cuisine. It is classically tossed with trenette (a Ligurian pasta similar to linguine), sometimes with the addition of green beans and potatoes that have been cooked along with the pasta. It is also the crowning condiment for the region's renowned minestrone.

Regional Specialties

Olives local small black olives are cured for eating and also milled to make the region's light, delicate olive oil

Focaccia flat, yeasted bread, often baked with local sage, rosemary, and olives

Minestrone classic vegetable soup, made with pasta and garnished with basil pesto

Ravioli this familiar stuffed pasta was invented in Liguria for long sea voyages

Cima alla genovese veal breast stuffed with a ground meat filling, poached, and sliced

Burrida and ciuppin Liguria's seafood stews, the latter of which was re-created in America by Genoese immigrants as cioppino

Farinata chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour flatbread, often cooked in a wood-fired oven with herbs; eaten as a snack or antipasti

Photo: Traditionally made by hand with a mortar and pestle, vibrant green basil pesto is the epitome of summer.