Cappon magro

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Cappon magro is a traditional Genoese salad from Genoa in Liguria, Italy. It’s a fancy, meat-free dish built by layering seafood and vegetables over hardtack (gallette) rubbed with garlic and soaked in seawater and vinegar, forming a decorative pyramid.

Typical ingredients include white fish, lobster, green beans, celery, carrots, beets, potatoes, and other vegetables and seafood, all boiled, cut up, and arranged in layers. Each layer is dressed with a sauce similar to salsa verde, made from parsley, garlic, capers, anchovies, the yolks of hard-boiled eggs, green olives, olive oil, and vinegar. The pyramid is topped with a lobster (often with its coral), and the sides are garnished with olives, bottarga, capers, anchovy fillets, crayfish, artichokes, and quartered hard-boiled eggs.

Cappon magro is traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve and other Catholic fast days because it contains no meat. A lighter, related dish called capponata exists in Liguria, Sardinia, and Campania, using bread or rusks and a mix of tomatoes, vegetables, and seafood.