GENERAL
PREPARATIONS
LIFE IN GENOA
FOOD
ordering by weight
etto = 100 grams or 1/10 kg, approximately 0.22 pounds (or about a quarter pound)
Vorrei un etto di ____
Vorrei quattro etti di ____
bread
Focaccia - The classic bread of Genoa , try the focaccia at a busy place when it is fresh (hot).
Panino – roll
Grissini – bread sticks
olive oil
You should develop a taste for good extra virgin olive oil, olio extravergine di oliva, which is dark green in color. Expect to pay around 8 euros for a bottle, but it is money well spent.
cheese
Parmigiano – parmesan cheese. Go into a cheese shop and buy a small piece and grate it as you need it at home. Also available in supermarkets, but buy it whole, not already grated.
“Pecorino sardo” a sheep cheese from Sardegna, better if slightly aged. A good dry cheese for eating. Buy it by the etto in a cheese shop.
Fresh mozzarella. Santa Lucia is a good and economical brand in the supermarket, or buy it fresh from a cheese shop in a plastic bag full of water. Next step up is mozzarella di bufala.
pasta
Pasta secca (normal, dry pasta in a box, Barilla is a major brand)
Pasta fresca
You can get it in the refrigerator section of the supermarket (very reasonable), or handmade and really fresh in a local shop, which can be more expensive but you might have it as a main course instead of meat. A good brand of fresh pasta in the refrigerator section of the supermarket is Novella, which has fresh pasta and basic sauces such as pesto and walnut sauce for pansotti. Affordable and of excellent quality.
Trenette al pesto, trofie al pesto
Pansotti al sugo di noci (walnut sauce)
pesto
THE Genoese sauce for pasta made from basil and pine nuts.
meat
Pollo - chicken
Petto – breast
Coscia - leg
Vorrei tre fette di petto di pollo = I would like three slices of chicken breast.
manzo – beef
Tritato magro – ground beef (hamburger)
Tritato misto – ground beef, less expensive and with more fat, good for a sauce
Bistecca - steak
Bistecca senza osso – steak without a bone
Vorrei due bistecche senza osso, grazie.
Vitello – veal (veal is under a year old, vitello al latte is milkfed veal, vitellone is beef from a young cow, over a year old)
Usually ordered by the slice, and you might say fettina/e to indicate that you want it thin.
You also see it already breaded (impanato/a) at the butcher shop. Better to do it yourself at home.
maiale – pork
Bistecca di maiale – pork chop
Lonza – pork loin
Arista – looks like a pork roast, but you can order a few slices (una fetta or due fette) or by weight for a piece to roast
other genoese specialties
Pies, such as torta pasqualina, a vegetable pie with hardboiled eggs
Farinata, in a proper friggitoria or at Sa Pesta