The cappon magro is an ancient Ligurian dish based on fish and vegetables.
The term “magro” indicates it to be a dish reserved for days of penance and Lent.
Originally it was a leftover dish, consumed by fishermen directly on the boats or by the servants of the nobles who reused leftovers from banquets.
During the Baroque period, it began to be decorated with sauces and shrimps, eggs and since then it has become a refined dish perfect for the Christmas holidays.
Each layer can be made up of one or more vegetables, fish, or seafood, alternated with the Ligurian green sauce.
Each ingredient is boiled separately, cut, and seasoned with oil and/or vinegar.
The name could refer to the French ‘chapon‘, a toasted bread crust rubbed with garlic and used for soups, which recalls the use of the sailor’s biscuit at the base of the cappon magro.
But also to the Sicilian caponata, because in Ligurian cuisine there is the caponnadda (a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, bottarga, and dried tuna, seasoned with olive oil).
- Difficulty: Difficult
- Cost: Expensive
- Rest time: 4 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Boiling
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas, Easter
Ingredients
- 1.7 lbs white fish (quantity intended after cleaning)
- 2 carrots (and/or beets)
- 2 potatoes
- as needed green beans
- as needed sailor's biscuits
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 10.5 oz Ligurian green sauce
- as needed Taggiasca olives
- as needed shrimps (and/or lobster)
- as needed extra virgin olive oil
- as needed lemon
- as needed salt
- as needed vinegar
Tools
- 1 Pastry Cutter
Steps
The green sauce is made with parsley, garlic, anchovies, hard-boiled yolks, olives, capers, pine nuts, and bread soaked in vinegar. You can prepare it (recipe here) or buy it ready-made.
Boil the white fish, cut it and season it with oil and lemon.
Cook the vegetables in boiling water, cut them and season with oil and salt.
Boil the shrimps.
Create the layers (with the help of a pastry cutter) alternating each with the green sauce.
Base with biscuit soaked in water and vinegar.
Fish.
Vegetables.
Shrimps, hard-boiled eggs, and olives.
You can choose to make more layers by doubling fish and vegetables.
Let it rest in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
To delve deeper and discover other stories, myths, and legends of Liguria, available in bookstores:
“Unforgettable villages of Liguria”, “Myths & Mysteries of Liguria” “Liguria to discover” “Traditional Ligurian cuisine“
To delve deeper and discover other stories, myths, and legends of Liguria, available in bookstores:
“Unforgettable villages of Liguria”, “Myths & Mysteries of Liguria” “Liguria to discover” “Traditional Ligurian cuisine“
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
What is the sailor’s biscuit?
The biscuit is prepared and packaged in the form of a small flatbread.
A single baking makes it dry and preservable, so much so that, in the past, those who checked its consistency before accepting the cargoes to be stowed on ships’ holds, required the biscuits to be “glassy”, perfectly dry and therefore storable for a long time.Is the Ligurian green sauce the same as the Piedmontese one?
The Ligurian green sauce, also called “bagnetto”, should not be confused with the Piedmontese one called “bagnet verd“, unlike the latter it contains olives, capers, hard-boiled egg yolk, and pine nuts.
It is used for the preparation of the famous cappon magro, but also to accompany the stuffed veal and boiled meat.
