Farinata- no translation

This is a very traditional dish from Liguria, known for Cinque Terre, pesto and focaccia. This is one of the simplest dish if you look at the ingredients, but it took me some practice to find the right amount of each ingredient and the cooking time and temperature…anyway here is the final version. The most important thing to keep in mind is to use good quality ingredients: olive oil needs to be a good one, same for the chickpea flour, otherwise it tastes “terrible”.

Ingredients:

  • 200g, about a cup chickpea flour (not the Indian one)
  • 3 cups of water
  • salt (9g)
  • olive oil
  • rosemary
  • black pepper

Preparation

In a tall container, mix the chickpea flour with a cup of water and then add the rest, this way you avoid the lump formation. Add salt and mix, and let it rest for a couple of hours. Turn the oven on at 400F, use a very wide pan, the farinata shouldn’t be thicker than 0.5cm or 1/5 of an inch, add 6 tbsp olive oil to the pan and add the mixture, mix well. Now you can put it in the oven, mid height and let it cook for 5 min, then turn the broil on and cook it for 15 more minutes. The farinata is ready when it’s golden on the surface as shown in the pic. Take it out from the oven, add some rosemary and/or black pepper and enjoy!

This version makes a farinata that is very crispy on the top and soft and creamy on the bottom, if you like it harder, bake it for 10 min and then turn the broil on.

Some people add some parmigiano on the top, some other pesto….to me, the simpler the better!

Suggestion: to scale down remember 1 volume of flour to 3 of water.

 

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