Local products23 August 2015

#Recipe of the week #Barbagiuai is the dialect name of fried ravioli

Stuffed with rice, pumpkin and cheese, typical of Nervia Valley, inland from Ventimiglia, in the province of Imperia, this is the right recipe for the autumn.

Barbagiuai, credit Lorenzi

Barbagiuai, credit Lorenzi

In the area a legend tells that the name of this tasty product derives from a certain uncle, who was called in the ancient Ligurian language "beard", whose name was Giovanni, in dialect Giuà, master chef and inventor of this recipe. To declare the goodness of Barbagiuai is certainly the contrasting sweet pumpkin and the flavor of "Brusso", fermented cottage cheese typical of inland valleys of Imperia. 

The Barbagiuà is certainly an intemelia (hinterland Ventimiglia) specialty, present in the valleys of the western coast, from Monaco (where they are called Barbajuan) to Bordighera and up to Pigna, in the variant Pansaròtu. In the seventies, Camporosso (town between Bordighera and Ventimiglia) has been able to dedicate to Barbagiuai a popular festival, while in the Valley Pansarotu remained an alternative, perhaps because it replaces the brussu with ricotta, but the variant with pumpkin and borage together, which today is largely popular, puts things right, with the name of Barbagiuà.

Here is the recipe of Camporosso (for 4 persons)

Ingredients

Dough:

600 gr of flour

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

salt

Stuff:

1 kg of ripe yellow pumpkin

150 gr of rice

100 gr of grated Parmesan cheese (or cheese)

1-2 eggs

1 -2 tablespoons brusso

1 clove of garlic

1 liter of extra virgin olive oil

parsley, marjoram, salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Mix the flour with warm water and a little oil and salt and roll out the dough until you get a very thin sheet.

Previously you boiled, drained and cut the pumpkin into small pieces; cooled, you squeezed and sieved or finely chopped.

Besides you also boiled rice in milk and water.

Now make an amalgam of the various ingredients for the stuff in a bowl, mixing well, adding a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and eventually sieved gourd; salt and pepper.

Roll out the dough and cut it into strips of 6 cm, on which you put individual spoonfuls of filling at regular intervals; cover with another strip of dough and close the ravioli cutting them two by two.

Let them dry and fry in a skillet in hot oil until golden brown and crispy.

Dry them with the appropriate paper and serve hot, though you can enjoy them also cold.

 

Judit Neuberger

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