Italian · Genoa, Liguria

Borragine Ripassata con Aglio e Acciughe alla Genovese

Borage — the mild, cucumber-scented herb with rough, slightly hairy leaves — is used as a cooking vegetable in Liguria more than anywhere else in Italy. It is the primary filling of Ligurian pansoti (the triangular herb ravioli) and is also simply blanched and then ripassata (sautéed) in olive oil with garlic and dissolved anchovies. The treatment is the same as Roman cicoria ripassata, but the borage has a more delicate character — less bitter, more mineral, slightly gelatinous when cooked.

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ServesFour portions

Sourced0of 5 in BC

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The Market List

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800 g

Young borage leaves

youngest, least hairy leaves only; large older leaves discarded

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

60 ml

Extra-virgin olive oil

Your own market

2 cloves

Garlic

thinly sliced

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8 fillets

Salted anchovies

2 fillets per bunch of borage; rinsed

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

1 wedge

Lemon

to serve at table

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The Method

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Add the young borage leaves and blanch for 2–3 minutes. The leaves are ready when softened and yielding but not collapsing. Drain, spread on a clean surface to cool, then squeeze firmly in both hands to expel all water.

Warm the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Add the thinly sliced garlic and the anchovy fillets. Stir and press the anchovies against the pan until they dissolve entirely into the oil and the garlic is pale gold — this is where the dish lives or dies: the anchovies must lose all solid form and become the salt base of the sauce, without the garlic colouring beyond gold.

Add the squeezed borage to the pan. Toss over medium heat for 5 minutes, turning the leaves so each one is coated in the anchovy-garlic oil. The borage should retain visible structure and a slight gelatinous body — not reduced to a purée. Taste before adding any salt; the anchovies provide the salt base.

Transfer to a warm plate. Bring the lemon wedge to the table and squeeze over at the moment of eating. The faint sharp acid lifts the mineral, cucumber-herbal character of the borage.

III

Quality Hierarchy

Reserve — Wild-foraged borage from the Ligurian hillside, gathered in early spring when the leaves are smallest and barely hairy; Ligurian DOP olive oil, hand-filleted salted anchovies from Menaica or Monterosso.

Estate — Cultivated borage from a specialist grower, leaves under 6 cm; a good Ligurian or Provençal extra-virgin oil; quality salt-packed anchovies, rinsed and filleted at home.

Market — Borage from a farmers' market or herb nursery, youngest leaves selected; a sound Italian extra-virgin olive oil; oil-packed anchovy fillets of reliable provenance.

House — Borage grown in a pot, cropped young; any clean extra-virgin olive oil; standard tinned anchovy fillets. Avoid large, rough leaves at any rung.

Sensory Tests

◇Touch. Squeezed blanched borage holds its shape but offers no resistance — thoroughly limp yet not waterlogged when pressed.

◇Sight. Anchovies have disappeared entirely into the oil; no solid flakes remain; garlic is pale gold, not brown.

◇Touch. Finished borage in the pan is coated and glistening, yields easily to a spoon but holds a perceptible, slightly gelatinous body rather than collapsing flat.

◇Where it lives or dies. The anchovies must dissolve completely into the oil before the borage enters the pan; if they remain as solid pieces, the salt base is uneven and the dish loses its coherence.

V · Cross-Cuisine Parallels

Roman cicoria ripassata in padella — the identical technique of blanching then sautéeing a bitter green with garlic and anchovies, applied to chicory rather than borage. Pugliese cime di rapa ripassate — blanched bitter greens returned to the pan with garlic and chilli in olive oil, the southern Italian version of the same ripassare method. Greek horta vrasta — boiled wild greens dressed with olive oil and lemon at the table, the simpler, uncooked-fat parallel to the Ligurian treatment.

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What to Pour

The pairing

El Silencio Espadin Mezcal

El Silencio Mezcal · Oaxaca — Mezcal

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Agave spirit

From British Columbia

Fort Berens Riesling

Fort Berens Estate Winery · Lillooet

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Wine

Without alcohol

GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade

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Non-alcoholic

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The whole pairing

VII · Origin & Lineage

Genoa, Liguria. Recorded in La Cucina di Liguria by Massimo Alberini. Borage is employed as a cooking vegetable in Liguria to a degree unmatched elsewhere in Italy; it is the foundation of pansoti alla genovese and, in its simplest form, is treated by the same ripassare technique that Rome applies to chicory — here rendered more delicate, more mineral, and distinctively Ligurian.

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