Ligurian food specialities

Liguria is a thin strip of land running from the French border to the NW corner of Tuscany. This has influenced its food. Genoa is the main town.
For 100’s of years it was a major port. Pesto was developed for the sailors on long voyages to combat scurvy. So there is pesto on menus everywhere.

I have also tried:
Farinata – a pancake-like flat bread made of chickpea flour. Very nice
Trenette - long thin flat pasta
Trofie – little worm-like shapes that look like pasta but are made with potato flour. Usually served with potatoes and beans
Ligurian olives – small, dark brown, not bitter, but hard work – you don’t get much around a pip
Torta pasqualina – Spinach, cheese and egg pie
Pandolce – a sweet cake with dried fruits, nuts and candied peel. This was tricky. They seem to be only made in 2 sizes 500g , about €7, and 1kg sizes. They look like a big version of the rock cakes my mother used to make. Anyway, I had been pondering the problem of how to try some for several days. Today I found a shop that had lightly toasted pieces available (obviously last week’s left overs but I did not care). It was OK, but would have been nicer with a bit of butter!