Farinata Recipes

SOCCA (FARINATA)

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 450. Put a well-seasoned or nonstick 12-inch pizza pan or cast-iron skillet in oven. (If you have a socca pan, obviously that will work well also.)
• Put the chickpea flour in a bowl; add the salt and pepper. Slowly add 1 cup lukewarm water, whisking to eliminate lumps. Stir in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Cover and let sit while the oven heats, or for as long as 12 hours. The batter should be about the consistency of heavy cream.
• Remove the pan, pour 2 tablespoons of the oil into it and swirl. Add the onions return the pan to the oven and cook, stirring once or twice, until they're well browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the rosemary. Stir the onions and rosemary into the batter, then immediately pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the pancake is firm and the edges set.
• Heat the broiler and brush the top of the pancake with 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil if it looks dry. Set the pancake a few inches away from the broiler, and cook just long enough to brown it in spots. Cut it into wedges, and serve hot or warm.

FARINATA (ITALIAN FLATBREAD)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Brush a 9-inch tart pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil and place in the oven to warm up.
• Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add green onion and garlic. Cook and stir until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Mix chickpea flour with lukewarm water until smooth. Set aside for 20 minutes at room temperature.
• Skim foam from the top of chickpea-water mixture. Add remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix in onion-garlic mixture. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add Gruyere cheese and mix well. Remove tart tin from oven and pour in chickpea mixture.
• Bake it in the preheated oven until crispy, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut into triangles before serving.

FARINATA

Steps:

• Put water in a large bowl. Slowly add in chickpea flour, mixing it with a wire whisk. Add salt to the mixture. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 3 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the foam from the top of the chickpea mixture. Grease a baking pan, about 12 by 16-inches, with oil. Once greased, add 2 tablespoons oil. Add chickpea mixture. Use a fork to combine the oil and chickpea mixture. Sprinkle generously with pepper. Heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a medium nonstick pan on medium heat. Add onion and cook for 10 minutes. Top the farinata with the onion slices and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes before cutting.

FARINATA (ITALIAN CHICKPEA PANCAKE) RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 550°F (290°C) and position oven rack in second position from top. If you have a pizza stone or baking steel, set it on the rack (it will help crisp the farinata from below, but isn't required).
• Turn on broiler. Set skillet on pizza stone or baking steel, or on the oven rack if not using a stone, and cook until farinata has just set, no longer jiggles, and is browned all over, about 11 minutes.
• Let farinata cool slightly until set. Eat warm or at room temperature.

LIGURIAN CHICKPEA PANCAKE (FARINATA)

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Put the water in a bowl. Use a whisk to beat the chickpea flour into the water, stirring briskly to keep lumps from forming.
• Whisk in a healthy pinch of salt too, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rest for at least 4 hours in a warm but not hot place.
• When the time is up, preheat your oven to 440 F / 220 C. Use a slotted spoon to remove the foam that will have formed on the surface of the batter, and then mix in half of the oil, using the other half to oil your pans.
• Pour the batter into the pans-it should be between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick or 5 and 10 millimeters.
• Bake the farinata for 20 minutes, until it has firmed up and become golden. Slice it up and serve it hot, with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

FARINATA: THE GENOA CHICKPEA TART.

Steps:

• Put the chickpea flour in a bowl and add lukewarm water a little at a time stirring with a whisk so that a smooth and lump-free batter is created.
• Let it rest at room temperature covered with transparent film for at least 4 hours (better 8).
• Mix it every 2 hours and remove the foam that eventually forms on top (these are the impurities that release the chickpeas).
• When the batter is ready, preheat the oven to 280°C - 300°C (530-570°F) and put the empty pan inside.
• Add salt to the batter and stir.
• Take the pan from the oven, be careful not to burn, and pour in the oil.
• Then take a wooden spoon, place it at an angle of 45 ° in the center of the pan and pour the batter inside the pan making it run along the spoon (the batter will gently float over the oil and the oil will create a protective film above and under the batter without mixing with it).
• Bake in the lower shelf of the oven and cook for 20 minutes or until the farinata will not have a light hazelnut color.
• Then turn off the oven and turn on the grill mode for 5 minutes to create a light brown crust on the surface.
• Remove from the oven, wait a minute, sprinkle with pepper and serve hot.

FARINATA WITH SAGE, OLIVES, AND ONION

Steps:

• At least 1 hour before making farinata, set a pizza stone on rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 550°F.
• Whisk together chick-pea flour and water until smooth, then whisk in salt and 2 tablespoons of oil. Let stand at least 30 minutes at room temperature.
• Cook onion with salt to taste in 1 tablespoon oil in a large heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 10 minutes, then cool.
• Put a seasoned 10-inch cast-iron round griddle on pizza stone and heat 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and add 1/2 tablespoon oil, tilting to coat evenly. Working quickly, stir batter and ladle about 7/8 cup (1 cup minus 2 tablespoons) evenly into pan (batter will sizzle and start to set almost immediately). Quickly scatter a third of the onion, olives, and sage leaves over the batter and carefully return pan to pizza stone. If using an oven with a built-in broiler, bake 12 minutes, then turn oven setting to broil for 1 to 5 minutes. If using an oven with broiler underneath, bake 15 minutes, then transfer pan to broiler for 1 to 2 minutes. Edges should be golden brown and crisp and top flecked with golden spots.
• Slide farinata onto a cutting board. Make 2 more in same manner, reheating pan 5 minutes for each successive farinata. Halve farinata and cut into strips.

HOW TO MAKE FARINATA

Steps:

• Combine garbanzo flour and water in a bowl; whisk until batter is smooth. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a plate and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours. Skim as much foam as possible from top of batter. Whisk salt, rosemary, and 3 tablespoons olive oil into batter.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).
• Place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat and heat until smoking hot. Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil in skillet and swirl to coat bottom of skillet with oil. Continue to heat until oil shimmers and a wisp of smoke rises from oil.
• Quickly pour batter into hot oil; carefully transfer skillet to preheated oven.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cake is browned and crusty, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer immediately to a plate, cut into wedges, and serve hot. Garnish with freshly ground black pepper.

FARINATA WEDGES

Steps:

• Whisk chickpea flour, salt and pepper in large bowl to blend. Whisk 1 3/4 cups water and 1/4 cup olive oil in medium bowl. Add water mixture to dry ingredients; whisk until batter is smooth. Cover; let stand at room temperature 1 hour.
• Preheat broiler. Thoroughly coat 12-inch-diameter ovenproof skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Pour half of batter into skillet, tilting skillet to spread evenly. Broil until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 450°F. Transfer skillet to oven and bake farinata until knife inserted into center comes out clean, about 3 minutes. Cool. Run spatula around sides of skillet to loosen farinata, then slide out onto cutting board. Repeat with second half of batter. Cut each farinata into 6 wedges.
• *Available at Middle Eastern markets and some natural foods stores.