Yesterday I went to Alassio, a little town on the coast, to enjoy the sunny weather with Jobby and his brother, Marco.
Walking through the "carugi", i.e. small streets typical of Liguria, we ate an icecream and took a look around.


I was planning to write a post about the summer, but today it's cold and rainy. I just drinked a cup of warm green tea. But, in order to think a bit positively, I'll just post some pictures of the garden I made about a week ago.
Summer is here, and even if it's playing hide and seek today, it will give up and show again, hopefully.


Taking advantage of the weather, I thought "Let's bake something tipical". So I found the recipe of Ciappe.
Ciappe are so easy!! Just four ingredients which everyone has in the pantry.
You can eat them with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, or with pesto or every sort of cheese.

Ciappe di Taggia.

(source)

500 g "00" flour
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
water

Preheat the oven at 180°C / 356 F.
Mix the flour and the salt, add the oil and then water until you have a firm dough.
Make little balls of the dough.
Spread them with a rolling pin, it has to be very very thin in order to become very crispy.
Place baking parchment on a baking pan and place the Ciappe on it.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until they become a bit hard and brown on the edges.
Let cool on a rack.

HappyFroggy

Uff.. It's exams-time over here.
And I have something like 10 exams in these two months. They haven't even started and I'm already stressed.
But, in weekends I always find a second or two, that then become 3 hours, to prepare something for my bofriend or my family.

I thought it would be nice to make more typical product, not only from Italy, but especially from the area I come from: Liguria.
A coulple of weeks ago my bf and I went for a walk in the little town we live in, and I took some photos.



It was very interesting because I discovered things I didn't know.
But, let's talk about the traditional dishes. I think I will write about it more often if I have the chance, because I'd love to make and learn more of the typical dishes. (My bf's grandma is going to give me some recipes!)
There are some bread-ish products, I like a lot. There's one called "Ciappe di Taggia" or "Ciappe della Liguria", there are "Canestrelli" (oh so yummy!), "Torta verde" (a sort of veggie pie, delicious) and then ..."Focaccia" (I think Focaccia is known around the world, isn't it?)

That day, the day of the walk, we made "Focaccia ai pomodorini" (i.e. "Focaccia with Cherry tomatoes") together. It took a while, but it was very tasty!
The recipe:


Focaccia ai pomodorini.


Ingredients
500 gr flour
300 ml lukewarm water
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
25 gr yeast
4 tablespoons + 1/2 cup olive oil
oregano
500 gr cherry tomatoes

Dissolve the yeast in a cup lukewarm water and the sugar. Let it in a warm place for 10-15 minutes until it becomes bubbly.
Put the flour in a large bowl and add the yeast, the remaining water and the olive oil.
Let the mixture stand for 2 or 3 hours in a dry and warm place.
After the 2 or 3 hours, spread the dough out until it's 1cm-thick, shed it with a bit of olive oil, and let it stad for half an hour.
Meanwhile, wash the tomatoes, cut them into slices (I cut them into halves) and remove the seeds. Salt them, and put them on the risen dough pressing a littlebit.
Pour another bit of oil on the dough and add the oregano.
Let it stand for another half an hour.
Preheat the oven at 190 °C and bake the Focaccia for 30 minutes (the cherry tomatoes have to be wrinkled).

I hope I'll have the time to write these weeks, and maybe to try some more typical recipes.

HappyFroggy