Varese Ligure Croxetti

Crosetti, corzetti, curzetti, cruxetti: there are an infinite number of names for this pasta, which can be found throughout Liguria in the more commercial variants that are not made following the traditional method. The reason it has so many different names is linked to the dual provenance of this traditional product. In the south of France, in Provence, there is talk of crosets, in the extreme east of Liguria, in Chiavari, Lavagna, Sestri Levante and Varese Ligure, where the tradition is practiced and preserved the most, they are known as croxetti or corzetti.
It was a pasta that was made for special occasions, oral traditions tell us of the customs that were followed, where the father of the groom, would pay homage to his future daughter-in-law with a tray of croxetti accompanied by the family’s wooden mould. The traditional stories also speak of when Elisabetta Farnese (1692-1766), who was passing through Varese Ligure to join her husband Philip V in Spain, stayed with the Cesena family, who had the croxetti prepared in her honour. Further to this, according to the official accounts that are preserved in the State Archives of Genoa, in 1729 the Doge of the Serenissima Republic of Genoa, hosting a delegation of the King of Morocco, offered croxetti as a meal.
The particularity of this pasta is linked to the moulds, and the origin of the moulds is linked to the Maritime Republic of Genoa, which ruled here from 1200 to 1815. Among the various functions performed by the Republic, one of the most important was the minting of coins, which bared the symbol of the cross on one side. It is assumed that both the name and the custom of making this pasta has come about as a result of this. The various Podestá (highest civil offices in government at the time), especially in areas that were more isolated inland, made their own local coins bearing different symbols and imprints and, in the same way, the croxetti display different figures: family crests, church rose windows, different types of food, grapes, ears of wheat, even depictions of sailing boats (of the so-called “leudi”)
The moulds – which are still kept and used by local families – comprise of two cylindrical pieces, with a diameter ranging from 55 to 65 millimetres. The first is shaped so that it can be gripped to apply the right pressure to the disc of dough in order to stamp the decoration on one side. The second acts as a hollow cutter to remove the disc from the dough, but also as a base on which the disc will be placed to be pressed and stamped. This backing piece is also carved with a decoration that will remain imprinted on the second side of the croxetto. To make the moulds, hard woods are used, beech, ash, apple, pear, cherry, olive. Hardness is important, both to allow the design to be strongly imprinted on the dough, and to withstand the wear and tear of time. In the areas of ​​Tigullio, Chiavari, Lavagna and Sestri, it is traditional to imprint only one side of the disc of pasta, while in Varese Ligure both sides are imprinted on.
The croxetto is prepared by mixing flour with egg yolks and warm water. Once formed, the dough must rest for half an hour at room temperature. There are three main ways of serving croxetti: in red “au tuccu”, served with a typical beef sauce; in white “in giancu”, with a marjoram and pine nuts sauce; and finally in green “au pestu” using basil leaves that are cut not too finely with a knife.

Season

Available all year round