The Condigiun, or condijon, is a very old Ligurian preparation, originally from the west Riviera, which in the past was eaten as a single dish by fishermen and farmers in their fast midday meal.
This rich and nutritious mixed salad, in which the flavors from the land blend harmoniously with those of the sea, also had a social function. It is also told that women used to eat this mixed salad on the street, gathered on the steps of the houses to enjoy it together, circling around a single big serving dish, called “grillettu” in Genoa’s dialect, and, for the occasion, exchanging the latest gossips in the area, while the husbands were at work in the fields or on the sea.
Later the Condigiun spread from coastal areas to the whole inland of Liguria, also inspiring the French neighbors the realization of the famous Niçoise salad (which takes its name from the city of Nice, once Italian) and it began to be served on the table.
It is a quick and easy meal to prepare, mainly made and served during the summer. The most commonly used ingredients are: fresh tomatoes, black and green olives, carefully washed salted anchovies, red onions, capers, tuna fish, finely chopped radish or green lettuce wide leaf, and boiled eggs also sliced to garnish.
A typical Ligurian feature of this summer dish is the addition of sea biscuits, (local hard bread, baked twice, once used by sailors on ships), broken into pieces and slightly soaked in a mixture of water and vinegar to soften, then all seasoned with extra virgin olive oil.
It is preferable to prepare the dish six or seven hours before serving or the evening before the meal, in order to let the various flavors blend in well all together, obviously kept in the
refrigerator.
You can prepare this recipe in one of our cooking classes.
Condigiun
Ingredients
- 2 sea biscuits or steal bread
- 300 gr potatoes
- 300 gr of green beans
- Amount to taste radicchio or green salad
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
- Taggiasche olives or stoned olives
- capers
- basil leaves
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1 fresh onion
- red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Put the eggs in cold water and bring to boil. Let the eggs boil for 8 minutes. When ready cool them down under the cold running water.
- Boil potatoes and green beans in salted water. Drain and cool them down under cold running water.
- In a bowl pour equal small amounts of water and vinegar and soak the sea biscuits, making sure they do not become too soft.
- Make up the salad directly in a serving dish making a bed with the softened sea biscuits, then placing the green beans and potato cubes on top of it.
- Continue adding half-cut tomatoes, finely sliced onion, capers, and olives. Salt and pepper.
- Season with extra virgin olive oil and garnish with basil leaves and the boiled eggs cut in halves.
- Note: If you want, you can add tuna fish or anchovies, marinated or salty, or some sliced “musciame”, but in this case, you will no longer have a vegetarian dish.
Notes
If possible, prepare the Condigiun a few hours before consuming it to allow the flavors to blend well.
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