Try the Pasqualina cake, the typical Genoese vegetable savory pie traditionally served at festive lunches (and not just for Easter!) You can buy an Pasqualina pie made in the sciamadda, the characteristic street bakery where you they sell focaccia, fried food, quiches and porridge.
The history of the Pasqualina cake
Vegetable savory pies are one of the most typical symbols of Ligurian gastronomy. Already in the Renaissance we can find evidence of the Genoese gattafure, pies filled with chard or onions with two overlapping sheets of pasta. The gattafure are the daily food of the time, what was sold and served in the taverns in and around Genoa; meanwhile these cakes evolve and always develop new variants (with rice or mushrooms or other herbs, most likely with the "preboggion", the hat name with which the various Ligurian wild herbs are identified); at the base there is always the presence of the most typical fresh cheese, namely the prescinseua.
The real name of Torta Pasqualina, which is linked to the Easter festivities but as we were saying is a cake for daily use that is eaten all year round, however it seems that it only began to take hold in the nineteenth century, with the famous cookbooks - del Ratto and del Rossi - which contributed to founding the Genoese gastronomic tradition: in these cookbooks we have a distinction that will be lost over the years, i.e. the name Pasqualina identifies the vegetable and cheese pies in which the two ingredients are distinct in two layers while the cappuccina (or cappuccia), the beets - or artichokes - and the prescinseua are mixed together, a distinction that has now been lost. The Easter cake, since it is one of the main courses for festive lunches - both at Easter and at Christmas - as well as being made at home, it can still be found for sale in delicatessens and sciamadde.
What is a shamadda?
A show of fried foods, cakes, porridges and focaccias. These are the sciamadde, the Genoese street fry shops, which with their counters overflowing with trays are among the most characteristic and evocative corners of the city. Here we make our real and authentic Pasqualina cake.
Fresh and artisanal specialty, for delivery during the week order by Tuesday.