Tag: specialties

What to eat in Sanremo? All specialties – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

Sanremo: not just Festival! In addition to singers, the city on the Riviera di Ponente is the cradle of excellent local food. You want to know what to eat in Sanremo, what are the native specialties not to be missed? If you are in the area, whether during the Festival or at other times of the year, we have developed a guide to Sanremo specialities absolutely worth trying.

What to eat in Sanremo?

Walking

Let’s start from a great Ligurian classic, in a local version: la Sardenaira. It is a Ligurian focaccia typical of the city of Sanremo, seasoned with tomatoes, anchovies, capers and olives. A real treat for focaccia lovers! Always in the wake of “walking” food, there is the classic Green cake, prepared with a filling of rice and rotating seasonal vegetables.

Appetizers

You can’t miss the typical fish dish such as lo Stockfish brandacujun. Here the stockfish is creamed and accompanied by potatoes, Taggiasca olives and extra virgin olive oil and offered as a spread to eat at the start of the meal.

First dishes

Let’s then move on to a first classic of the Ligurian tradition, the inevitable ones Trenette with pesto. We are talking about one of the classic sauces that have always conquered Italians, but not only. Ligurian basil pesto is in fact used widely throughout Italy. Also in the first course section, the Pansoti stuffed with borage. Typical of all Liguria, from East to West. It is a fresh pasta filled with borage, which can be seasoned with just butter and sage, with pesto or with walnut sauce. In the soup section, however, we have buridda, a tasty fish soup typical of Sanremo cuisine and Liguria in general. There are many versions: from the one with dogfish and mullet, to the one with cuttlefish.

Second courses

Secondly, a great local classic comes into play: the Rabbit Sanremo style (or rabbit with olives). It is made with Taggiasca olives (typical of the area) and accompanied by walnuts, thyme, bay leaves, rosemary and washed down with Vermentino.

The sweets

Don’t miss the desserts either. As a little gem, the very famous Sanremo kisses. These are two hazelnut paste biscuits held together by a delicious chocolate mousse. Impossible to resist. Continuing, you should also try the Ciavai cake. Behind this mysterious name lies a particularly rich dessert flavored with curaçao and based on eggnog and whipped cream. Pure enjoyment.

Curiosity

A gem is the fishing of a very delicious crustacean: the Sanremo red prawn. This shrimp is known for its intense flavor and its delicacy in the mouth. Excellent to eat raw, or cooked with salt or just seared. The Sanremo red prawn is in fact a jewel of Ligurian fishing, a delicious crustacean fished exclusively in the waters of the City of Flowers, with a bright red colour.

The most loved Ligurian recipes

What to eat in Sanremo All the specialties

In Liguria, immediately after trofie, come trenette: a long, flat pasta shape, similar to linguine. How are they seasoned? With pesto, of course!

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Chickpea farinata is a traditional Ligurian and Tuscan preparation which has many names (fainè, cecina, chickpea cake) and recipes in other regions

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Stuffed vegetables, the classic Ligurian ones

In Liguria, where people often eat “lean”, the art of cooking vegetables reaches imaginative peaks of gluttony. Stuffed vegetables are widespread throughout the region, with different variations: this one, typical of the Ponente area, is among the simplest, as if not wanting to interfere too much with the flavor of the vegetables

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Focaccia with Ligurian cheese

Cheese focaccia is a typical recipe from all of Liguria. The one from Recco is the most famous today, let’s prepare it together

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Pisciarada, the Ligurian potato focaccia

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Trofie with pesto the Ligurian recipe

Flour, water, salt and many small gestures. A mortar, garlic, oil, basil, parmesan, pecorino, pine nuts. We fly to Liguria with a plate of trofie with pesto

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Easter cake from Liguria

In Liguria, it’s not Easter without Easter cake: legend has it that women made it with thirty-three sheets, equal to the years of Christ. Here is the recipe

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Caprini di Lombardia, gourmand specialties – Italian Cuisine

In the mountains of Lombardy, in spring, they are born excellent cheeses goats known above all by the great connoisseurs. The result of a centuries-old tradition, these specialties are particularly interesting because they make use of the milk of breeds raised only in the Lombard valleys with a remarkable diversification of pastures and nutrition, which gives a precise shade of taste and a peculiar character to each cheese. To get to know the panorama of the Lombard goats, you can start from the northernmost valleys of the Varese area that go towards the border with Switzerland.

The fomaggella of Luinese
We are in the hinterland of Luino and on the Lombard shore of Lake Maggiore, the land of production of the Formaggella del Luinese, the only Italian goat cheese exclusively to boast the Dop. It is a product with raw milk, semi-hard paste and white in color, with a delicate flavor that intensifies as the seasoning is lengthened; its production specification provides that the weight varies from 700 to 900 grams and is aged for at least 20 days. Many farms that produce the Formaggella del Luinese have begun to include a particular breed of native goat in the flock, the Verzaschese, characterized by a short, shiny black coat and 30 cm long horns. Among these is Il Vallone by Mattia Crivelli, one of his more than convinced supporters. "Verzaschesi goats are dominant in the flock: they are rustic animals that love to go out to pasture and incite the goats of the other breeds, more accustomed to the sheepfold, to do the same, just as required by the Formaggella specification", says Crivelli In fact, the uniqueness of many animal breeds often correspond to particular food products and today more than ever, protecting one corresponds to enhancing the other. Sondrio and Bergamo also have their own goat star. Orobica breed, widespread in the Orobie Park, which includes the Brembana Valley, and in Valtellina. This precious animal can be recognized for its long, ash gray and beige coat and powerful horns. There is also an association that has the aim of enhancing and protecting its milk and meat.

La Roviola and Matüscin
182601 Ferdinando Quarteroni, founder of the Ferdy Farmhouse in the 1980s (pictured), explains that "there were once essentially three Orobica goat cheeses that were produced in the Brembana Valley and are the same that we offer today in our farmhouse: the Roviola, a soft cheese, i Formagit, small and flowery rind, and above all the Matüscin, which is produced only with the summer milk scented with herbs of the season. In addition, the ability of this goat to graze in alpine areas, inaccessible and difficult to reach, allows you to take advantage of unused hectares of pasture and keep the mountain clean ". Alfio Sassella, who with his wife Sonia Marioli, establishes the Cavizzola mountain pasture in the upper Val Brembana, is also certain. "The Orobica goat chases flowers and buds, its milk is a sort of distillate", he explains, "we use it in quantities of about 20% in the historic Rebel, a long-aged cheese, to be consumed between 3 and 6 years ".

Fatulì and Mascarpin
Val Saviore, a perpendicular of Val Camonica, in Bresciano, is also home to fine dairy products: Fatulì and Mascarpin. The Fatulì is a smoked cheese with green juniper branches, the Mascarpin it is a ricotta which is stored for a few days in special bags and sometimes smoked. Their production is closely linked to the goat Bionda dell'Adamello which, in the members of the Maffeis family, has found the most convinced supporters. Arturo, the pater familias speaks: "This valley has been displacing in the post-war period, leaving uncultivated areas, empty huts and a goat breed at the mercy of itself, as few families have continued their agricultural and dairy activities". Fortunately, when the spotlight turned on biodiversity, we began to want to get to know the Bionda dell'Adamello better, a medium-length fawn-haired goat, whose attitude is to live in a semi-wild state, a characteristic that contributes to obtain a particularly fragrant milk.

Our choices
Il Vallone farm
Via Molino Galli 4, Cuveglio (Va) tel. 347 9712918
It produces the Formaggella del Luinese Dop with Verzaschesi goat milk.
Caprivalcuvia company
Via San Pietro 12, Rancio Valcuvia (Va), tel. 338 1017119
Its owner is responsible for the recognition of the Dop of the Formaggella del Luinese.
Ferdy farmhouse
Location Fienili, Lenna (Bg) tel. 0345 82235 agriturismoferdy.com
Production of historic goats from the Brembana Valley.
Sonia Marioli farm
via Clemente Valenti 16, Talamona (So), tel. 339 8478035
Renowned for the legendary rebel historian.
Maffeis company,
Via Pozzuolo 1 Cevo (Bs), tel. 0364 634634659
In Val Saviore it produces Fatulì and Mascarpin.

Riccardo Lagorio
foto Mountain Community of the Verbano Valleys and Agriturismo Ferdy
on Sale & Pepe of May 2020

London, Italian specialties at the temporary of the Rana family – Italian Cuisine

Until December 16th, in the heart of the city, for the first time, a real grocery store is open where fresh pasta will be the protagonist. You can do the shopping choosing between the best of gastronomy and crafts (and then take pictures of everything)

As in a grocery store, of those of the past, is located the most accurate selection of goodness genuine and enogastronomic specialties. But, at the same time, it is also a real photographic studio of the digital age, where every guest can build their own set. The temporary The Rana Grocer Family is, for the first time, in London, at 51 of Marylebone High Street, until December 16: in the heart of the city, a real grocery store where fresh pasta will be the star, and where you can go shopping choosing among the best of Italian gastronomy and craftsmanship.

All Italian delicacies

For the first time they arrive in England the special "goodies" of each province Italian: from the Apulian biscuits of Ceglie to the Val d'Aosta Tiles, from the Lonzino di Fico to the Cicerchia of Serra de 'Conti, to the extra virgin olive oil of Alfredo Cetrone from the Pontine Hills PDO of Sonnino. And, furthermore, the Nebbione of the hinterland of Parma, the cheese with the pomace vitovska of Friuli, the capers of the Aeolian islands, the pompia sardinia and the chinotto of Savona, the chickpeas of Paestum, and so on, of specialty in specialties. The Rana Grocer Family has also selected all you need for decoration of the table: the fresh flowers, the hand-painted fabrics by Gambettola from the Bertozzi family, the craftsmen from Treviso of Once Milano, the handmade dishes by the most expert ceramists.

The photo set

In the era of Instagram, why not give the opportunity to guests to photograph that small universe of specialties and share images on social media? The Rana Grocer Family thus becomes a true photographic studio of the digital age: every visitor can build their own set, choosing among marvelous marbles, ceramics and artisan fabrics. Flowers, fruits and vegetables adorn the shop. And from the floor, covered by a stretch of wooded leaves, marble slabs are raised that color the whole environment of green, violet, ocher, brown, red and pink. An engaging experience to share with friends, the ideal set to immortalize fresh pasta dishes prepared by Rana chefs, just a minute before enjoying it.