Condiglione Salad
By Riley Hostutler
Tomatoes, peppers, olives, capers, eggs, and tuna served on crackers make this salad a plentiful dish that has fed Italians for years. This blend of summer vegetables has its roots in Western Liguria and has gradually evolved across Italy, becoming a recipe of rich tradition. It tells the tales of Ligurian peasants that would munch on this light course while waiting for their husbands to come home from a day of fishing. The potent smell of the olives consumes the dish, luring all noses near to come to get a taste. The salad combines fresh celery and crisp peppers with savory fish and onions to create a rich taste without a bloated belly. A local proverb attests to the flavor of this dish stating: “I don’t trust three things: Condiglione without seasoning, beautiful flirtatious women, and a peasant without a trident.” The ties to the past this salad holds make it an intimate staple to Italian culture.
Serves 4
For the Gallette del Marinaio (Homemade crackers)
Ingredients:
5g Yeast
1000g Flour
500g Water
1g Salt
Method:
Start by dissolving the yeast in just enough warm water to make a sponge. Add flour in the bowl and start to knead with a hook. Let the mixer work until a dough forms. Let it develop elasticity until the surface is smooth. At the end of the kneading process, add salt. Kneading should take 10-15 minutes. After this, form 90g balls with your dough. Let the dough rise for 30 minutes. Then, use a rolling pin to flatten each ball to a 1cm thick disk. Let the disks rise for another 45 minutes under a cotton cloth. Make holes on the top of each disk with a fork. Heat the oven to 220 degrees celsius. Bake the disks in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Then, remove from the oven and flip each disk. Then bake the other side for another 5 minutes and serve.
For Condiglione Ligure:
Ingredients
6 Tomatoes
2 Cucumber
1 Celery stalk
1 Red Pepper
1 Yellow Pepper
1 bunch Romaine Lettuce
5 Spring Onion
150g Green Beans
1 Yellow Potatoes
4 Gallette del Marinaio
100g Olives Taggiasche
50g Capers
8 Anchovies filets
Vinegar (as needed)
Mosciame di Tonno or Fish Roe (as needed)
Method
First, wash and cut all produce. Next, blanch the green beans in boiling salted water for 3-5 minutes or until bright green and tender crisp. Then, place the green beans into ice water to stop cooking. Next, hard boil the eggs and boil the potatoes until soft. The “Gallette del Marinaio ” then needs to be soaked in water. Moving forward, assemble the salad with all the vegetables, olives, capers, and lettuce. Season the salad with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and vinegar. Finally, add hard boiled egg wedges, anchovy filets, and shavings of mosciame di tonno to garnish the salad and it is complete to serve with crackers.