The Traditional Ligurian Sauces With Giancarlo Marabotti
June 27, 2011 by Anna Merulla / Tags: Beautiful Liguria , cooking classes , Giancarlo Marabotti , ligurian cuisine , mandilli de saea , mortar , pasta , pestle , pesto sauce , Pesto World Championship , slow food , tour / 0 Comments
Today, he participates to the Pesto Championship competition as one of the organizers. Furthermore, he is involved in the famous Slow Food Association. Despite his great professionalism and knowledge, he remained a simple person with a special interest for food, traditions and taste.
Meeting Giancarlo, who is an expert in the ancient ligurian sauces made with mortar and pestle, has been a pleasant surprise for me. That evening, he involved everyone at table telling about his passion for the ligurian traditions and giving us advice on recipes.
Star of our discussions was the genoese pesto sauce and between a course and another Giancarlo told us about old ligurian recipes and other curiosities.
You know, Genoese Pesto is the most known sauce in the world after the italian tomato sauce and the region of Liguria is known abroad for this delicious delicasy.
Pesto sauce has origins from an ancient recipe named “agliata” (a sort of garlic sauce) used by the genoese sailors in 1200 a.d. during their long sailing months. The “agliata”, used to flavor and disinfect the dried meat, was made of garlic and bread soaked in vinegar. With the passing of the centuries, Giancarlo told us that the vinegar was substituted with basil, cheese, olive oil, nuts and then, pine nuts.
A curiosity: one of the first cheese used to prepare the green sauce was a dutch cheese, then it was used the parmigiano and the pecorino cheese.
Then, we spoke about pasta and it came out that the best kind of pasta that fits better with pesto sauce is the “mandilli de saea” (Genovese dialect – literally “silk handkerchiefs” – for lasagna). Thanks to the consistence of this pasta you can taste all pesto aromas and feel its scent and flavor. “Mandilli de saea with pesto sauce” recipe.
We met Giancarlo other times in Genoa and from our meetings it was born in everyone the desire to keep the ligurian cuisine alive and share with people “la cucina genuina” of Liguria with fresh and good quality ingredients, family traditions and the warm of hospitality. However more details about this initiaive can be found on Le Sciamadde – Dining with Locals!
