Genoa, Liguria

Apologies for the lack of posts for the last three weeks, have been busy - in both good and bad ways - lately.

One of the good things was a visit to Genoa (or, as the Italians call it, Genova) in Liguria.  It is not only has pretty palaces and churches and museums and coastline and things but ALSO fantastic vegetarian food.  Obviously, Italy has always been a great place to travel as a vegetarian but, in my view, it can get a bit samey.  Liguria has some quite different vegetarian food, though.

Behold pretty coastline

And pretty church

Back to the food.

Firstly, there is pesto.  Who doesn't like pesto?  The Ligurians do it with funny stubby gnocchi like pasta called trofie which is extremely tasty.

Trofie al pesto - photo from here
http://foodloversodyssey.typepad.com

Secondly, there is farinata.  Farinata are gram flour pancakes but done Italian style so with tasty things like onion or artichoke or gorgonzola in them.  They are delicious.

Farinata - photo from http://savoringeverybite.com/

Thirdly, there is focaccia con formaggio which is, you've guessed, it focaccia with cheese.  It tastes more like pancakes with cheese in the middle - bit like khachapuri and that is, obviously no bad thing!

Focaccia con formaggio

And THEN, as if all that was not enough, they have torta con verdura - yes, you at the back, that does mean vegetable tarts.  Lots of them.  You can have a tart made from green beans and potatoes or broccoli and brie or artichokes.  They are all good.

And ALSO you get all the more standard Italian vegetarian goodness like pizza.  And wine.  And gelato.

In terms of the food, I think that was the best trip I've ever been on.

Walnut, goats cheese and parsley pesto

Pasta with walnut, goats cheese and parsley pesto and roasted yellow peppers, asparagus and courgettes

An article in the Guardian reminded me about making pesto.  I tried making pesto a while back and it was nice but not significantly nicer than shop bought pesto.  But this article reminded me that one of the advantages of making your own pesto is that you don't have to stick to the pine nuts/basil/parmesan thing, you can make up your own recipe.  So, on a whim, I bought some walnuts, parsley and hard goats cheese and made my own.  I just chucked some of all three of these in the food processor and added olive oil until it looked right.  Not the most precise recipe of all time but it tasted pretty damn good.  I think I prefer parsley to basil in pesto, largely because of the more robust flavour.

Walnut, goats cheese and parsley pesto

Walnut, goats cheese and parsley pesto

To go with it, I roasted some vegetables - courgettes, yellow peppers, asparagus and some chopped garlic along with lots of salt and black pepper and olive oil.  I love roasted vegetables so much.  While they were roasting, I cooked the pasta and then combined.  Hmmm.  Definitely experimenting with pesto again..

Roasted yellow peppers, asparagus and courgettes

Pasta with walnut, goats cheese and parsley pesto and roasted yellow peppers, asparagus and courgettes