Corti Brothers Newsletter for February 2008   Page 7   

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To celebrate our 60th anniversary in the grocery business, I have had carved for Corti Brothers sets of Corzetti stamps with our logo on one side and a traditional design on the other. These have been turned by machine, but hand carved in Genova. The woods used for ours are the traditional “faggio,” beech and pear wood. These neutral woods do not give any flavor the dough.

“What in the world are Corzetti,” you ask. These are a type of round lasagna, typical of the Riviera di Levante and of Genova itself. There is a lot of supposed history (most of which is fabricated) to this fresh pasta which can be dried. The earliest Genovese cook books date from the mid 1800s, and simply describe Corzetti as “round lasagne” dressed with a meat sauce. A commercial pasta maker from Liguria calls them “Croxetti” and states that they date from the time of the Crusades and were marked with crosses. (Cröxe in Genovese dialect means ‘cross.’) It is possible that they may date from the Renaissance.

I think they were just another dish prepared by the upper class who had a lot of help in the kitchen. Making Corzetti is mindless work: it takes time. There is the fact that the pasta must first be made, rolled out, next cut with the bottom of the stamp and then stamped with the top part. It can be speeded up, if you use the cutting bottom to cut one disc, and then use the top stamp to mark it while cutting the next disc. It is a pleasant task on a rainy day or to keep children amused in the kitchen.

There is another type of “corzetti” called “corzetti della Val Polcevera.” These are in the form of a flattened figure 8. Made by stretching a small ball of pasta with both index fingers, these corzetti are related to the “crosets,” of Provence and “ crosits” of Piemonte.

Our Corzetti Stamps come boxed with instructions on making them, together with their sauces.

Corti Brothers Corzetti Stamps Beech Wood Set (Faggio) (#2075) $49

Corti Brothers Corzetti Stamps Pear Wood Set (#2076) $59

Here is the dried form of Corzetti ready to cook.

Alta Valle Scrivia Dry Croxetti Pasta 500g bag (#2077) $5.99

Since 1980, when Corti Brothers first imported them, the gold foil wrapped bottles of Ardoino Extra Virgin Oil, Vall’aurea, have been recognized as the finest oil coming from Liguria, on Italy’s north coast. This is where light fruit intensity oils are at home. Produced from the Taggiasca variety, harvested in the early and late winter, this golden oil is known for its elegance and delicate flavor. Vall’aurea is the oil for poached fish, delicate salads, focaccia with salt, and for making pesto. It is not an oil for dipping bread into. It is an oil for using where you do not want to cover the taste of the dish, merely enrich it.

Ardoino Vall'aurea Extra Virgin Oil 500ml bottle (#2078) $27.99

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