Minestrone alla genovese is a thick soup of beans, potatoes, pumpkin, courgettes, cabbage and short pasta, finished off the heat with a spoonful of pesto and eaten hot or cold in Genoa.
Where to eat it: 2 restaurants across 1 city.
Genoa's tourist office describes minestrone as a child of the cucina povera, a pot of whatever the garden gave, thickened by crushing the potatoes and beans halfway through cooking and made Genoese by the pesto stirred in at the end. Ligurian cooking has long added pesto to its minestroni, the vegetable soups richest in autumn, and the tourist office recipe still serves it in deep bowls, left to rest before eating and just as good cold.
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Common allergens: Gluten, Milk, Nuts
Tip from the editors. Stir the pesto in only once the pot is off the heat, as the Genoese recipe says, so the basil keeps its colour and scent.
Il Genovese on Via Galata in Genoa began in 1912 as a farinotto called Raggio; its fried dishes, pansoti and stoccafisso keep the old sciamadda repertoire.
OrderThe mixed fritti in olive oil, or the pansoti with walnut sauce from the primi list.
TipThe site lists the fried items as frisceü, panissette, latte brusco, gattafin and fried tripe, sold alone or as a mixed plate.
Osteria Il Cadraio, in a former coach depot beside Via Garibaldi in Genoa, serves Ligurian dishes, farinata and focaccia every day at lunch and dinner.
OrderFarinata or focaccia at lunch, or the minestrone genovese, which the kitchen can serve without pasta.
TipIts booking page says it closes on Sundays in July and August, and requests after 19:00 must be made by phone.
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