Rosemary Farinata

I have fallen in love with chickpea flour, otherwise known as gram or besan flour and made vegan omelettes, Burmese tofu and this Italian recipe farinata, a speciality in Liguria especially in Livorno where I sampled a "Cinque e Cinque" (see my review for Torteria Da Gagarin).

I have taken inspiration from several recipes and come up with my own quantity of ingredients, to make two main course portions.

150 g chickpea flour
50 ml olive oil
250 ml water
2 tbsp chopped rosemary
Salt and pepper

Serves 2

Sift the chickpea flour into a large bowl and season with salt, add the water and whisk to form a light batter.   Add the olive oil and rosemary and whisk again and if possible leave to rest for an hour.   I do not always leave it to rest and have used it immediately, which does not seem to affect the finished result.

Oil a large round pan, I use a metal pizza pan and put it into a hot oven at 220° for 5 mins.

Remove the pan from the oven,  pour in the batter and return to the oven for about 15-20 mins.   Its cooked when you shake the pan and the farinata comes away from the side of the pan and is firm to the touch.

As for a filling, well the world is your oyster, I love it with garlic mushrooms and a good drizzle of olive oil.   I have previously posted a vegan omelette recipe which contains tofu, however having recently been diagnosed allergic to soya I will be posting a new omelette recipe made just with chickpea flour.