#ligurian

Nifts & neves

[ID: A plate of large, very full ravioli sprinkled with fresh herbs. A close-up on one of the ravioli cut open to reveal and herb and cheese filling. End ID]

Pansooti (Ligurian stuffed pasta with wild greens)

This is a recipe for a cheese-and-herb stuffed pasta called "pansooti" in Ligurian, or "pansotti" in Italian. The name is derived from the Italian "panciuti" (singular: "panciuto"), meaning "pot-bellied"; and, as the name implies, they are meant to be stuffed until they are distinctly round on one side. In Genoan parlance, pansooti are sometimes called "ge in preixun" ("chard in prison").

Pansooti's origins can perhaps be found in Sant’Apollinare, where they were typically made for the feast of Saint Joseph on March 19. Because they are ravioli di magro ("lean ravioli")—that is, meatless pasta—they're perfect for a festival that always falls during Lent.

Pansooti's filling is cheesy and earthy, with bitter greens, nutmeg, majoram, and a light, tangy local cheese called prescinsêua (also known as quagliata, or cagliata). Traditionally, a mix of locally foraged wild herbs known as preboggión, including borage, aster, dandelion, and sow thistle, is used; and in spring, pre-mixed bundles of these pot herbs can be purchased in the markets in Genoa. In seasons when these greens are not available, Swiss chard may be used.

Pansooti is frequently served with a creamy salsa di noci (walnut sauce), which combines the sweet earthiness of walnuts, the zestiness of raw garlic, and the floral and fruity notes of good olive oil to form a perfect complement to the herb filling.

Recipe under the cut!

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Portofino, Liguria, Italy

Entremont Statues 2nd C. BCE. Celtic/Ligurian. Some wearing what appears to be chainmail.

"The heads of their most distinguished enemies they embalm in cedar-oil and carefully preserve in a chest, and these they exhibit to strangers..."

-Diodorus Siculus, Book 5, Chapter 29

...

"This fortified town built in 180BC by the Salyes, a tribe with a fairly evolved urban civilisation, was protected by a natural escarpment and by ramparts consisting of heavy curtain walls reinforced by towers. Inside the fort, the "upper town" was protected by another fortification, while the "lower town" seems to have been an artisanal district, where the remains of shops, warehouses and workshops can still be seen. Statuary from the site is exhibited in the Musée Granet.

In the Second Iron Age, archeology observed a multiplicity of heroic forms of worship, according to the social classes concerned and the weight of the political office associated with it. Contrary to the modest environment of the contemporary cremations honored in the habitats of Verduron or La Cloche (near Marseille), it is obviously the expression of the proximity of an aristocratic class that prevails in Entremont.

In Entremont, the heroes, armed warriors, surrounded by their trophies, are at the center or near the representation of the members of their aristocratic lineage, dunastai (Greek name designating, in the ancient sources on the Celto-Ligures, powerful aristocrats, with hereditary power) accompanied by their families."

-taken from viamichelin & archeologie.culture.fr