And, for this reason, savory vegetable pies are an intelligent way to make the most of the abundant, and somewhat monotonous, harvests of the garden.
In Ligurian savory pies we find a pattern that is almost always the same: a shell of puff pastry, which can be rolled out more or less thinly and flaked with extra virgin olive oil or left simple, enveloping and soft for a filling that almost always includes vegetables typical of the region such as herbs, chards, zucchini, pumpkin, green beans or similar.
Rice is often included in the filling together with or instead of fresh dairy products such as prescinsêua cheese.
To add flavor, we can always use herbs such as marjoram, fresh thyme or basil.
We can also add a sprinkling of parmesan or pecorino cheese.
Liguria is a small region but when I come across recipes that I don't know, I realize what a big culinary tradition it has.
What is truly amazing, it is that within the same boundaries of the city of Genoa we can find recipes which differ from neighborhood to neighborhood or even new ones unknown to other areas of the same metropolitan area.
This is the case for the onion pie, the baciocca, a savory pie for all seasons, of which you can vary the ingredients to your liking, as long as onions and potatoes are always present (you can even make it with just onions and potatoes...after all, everything else is an extra).
It is a savory pie made with dough and potato and onion filling that I have already made it in two versions: with cooked or raw onions. I preferred the first, because I don't like the strong flavor of the onion, but the second is the original version from what I have heard.
For the puff pastry you need only flour, oil, salt and water.
The pastry is one that you can use for all the savory pies we make here in Liguria.
Another recipe I have recently discovered as well is a pie which seems to be typical of Sestri Ponente, a former village on the coast now incorporated into the city of Genoa as a neighborhood.
This pie is extremely simple to make, quick but so tasty; it has very few ingredients, mostly pumpkin, and it takes just a short time to prepare it.
It is healthy, delicate, colorful, original and surprising. It is called pumpkin farinata and it is a tasty and ancient recipe which is little known. Born between the villages of Sestri Ponente, Pegli, Pra’ and Voltri, it is not to be confused with the famous chickpea farinata but it is not a vegetable loaf or a pumpkin pie either. It is a typical local dish with a pastry of flour, water, salt and a filling of raw pumpkin, cheese, oregano on top, cooked in the oven in a low pan. Excellent for a light lunch and ideal as an appetizer, pumpkin farinata is a gastronomic postcard that transmits the scent of a hidden yet live Genoese culinary tradition.
Farinata di zucca
Last but not least, the Torta Cappuccina is a savory pie typical of Genoa, prepared with shortcrust pastry, a filling of raw chard and Genoese quagliata cheese. Known in dialect as turta de gee, this rustic pie is prepared with a few simple ingredients but is very tasty and also quick to make. The pastry, in fact, is prepared with a dough of flour, oil and water that must be kneaded for a few minutes and left to rest until it becomes elastic and compact. If you don't have time you can replace it with puff pastry. The filling may be made of raw chard or other delicately flavored herbs and prescinseua cheese. This cheese though, so typical of the province of Genoa, is very difficult to find in other areas of Italy and impossible to find abroad, in the absence of which it can be easily replaced with ricotta mixed with a few spoonfuls of plain yogurt.
