#ligurian

[downfalldestiny]

Ligurian Alleyways 🌇 !.

[yvanspijk]

Nifts & neves

Niece and nephew aren't the original English words for children of your brothers and sisters. The original words were nift and neve, cognates of German Nichte and Neffe. Niece and nephew were borrowed from Old French and gradually supplanted nift and neve, until these became obsolete. The French words have the same Proto-Indo-European ancestors as Nichte and Neffe, so they're cognates, but very distant ones. Click the graphic to learn more.

[najia-cooks]

[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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Ingredients:

For the pasta:

250g 00 semolina flour (semola di grano duro rimacinata)

Pinch of table salt

Splash of white wine (optional)

About 155g water

Ligurian pasta is typically made without eggs. The adoption of eggs in pasta-making occurred in some regions of Italy over the course of the 20th century. I have seen someone go so far as to say that no true Italian adds eggs to pasta. Nor does any true Scotsman add sugar to his porridge.

For the filling:

1 compacted cup (180g) prepared preboggión; or Swiss chard

1 cup (175g) vegan ricotta; or vegan labna

2 sprigs marjoram

Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

For the sauce:

Half a tea glass (1/3 cup) good olive oil

200g shelled walnuts

A clove of garlic

50g non-dairy parmesan cheese (optional)

200g soy or oat milk

A sprig of marjoram

50g stale bread, or breadcrumbs

Salt, to taste

Instructions:

For the pasta:

Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add water and wine, if using. Knead by hand for 10 minutes, or in a stand mixer on medium-low for 6 minutes. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky.

Cover and let rest for 30 minutes to an hour while you prepare the filling and sauce.

For the filling:

Mince greens, or use a food processor. Mix all filling ingredients. Taste and adjust salt and nutmeg.

For the sauce:

Cut the stale bread in into cubes. Combine with milk in a small bowl, and work with your hands until the bread is fully hydrated and you have a grainy mixture.

Pulverise garlic in a mortar and pestle. Add walnuts and crush to desired texture.

Combine the olive oil, breadcrumb mixture, walnuts, marjoram, cheese, and salt and mix.

If you don't have a mortar and pestle, grate the garlic and finely chop the walnuts.

To assemble:

1. Divide dough into four pieces, leaving the ones you're not working with covered. Roll the first piece of dough out into a rectangle about 1/8" (3mm) thick.

2. Cut dough into 3" (7.5cm) squares and place a heaping teaspoon of filling atop each one. Fold each square diagonally into a triangle; then, take the two furthest points of the triangle and bring them together, pressing to seal. Take any extra dough that's crossed over and fold it around the point you just made, pressing again.

To cook:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Carefully add pansooti and cook 3-5 minutes, until pasta is cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Top with walnut sauce and fresh marjoram and serve hot.

[krumpkin]

Porto venere, Ligurian coast, Italy 😊

[thepastisalreadywritten]

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[seamusicpoetry]

Portofino, Liguria, Italy

By Valentina_A on Flickr

[paganimagevault]

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

More images and info: https://paganimagevault.blogspot.com/2020/05/entremont-statues-2nd-c-bce.html

[petaqui]