Savory cake with chickpea flour

Farinata or socca (savory cake with chickpea flour) recipe

Preparation and cooking

• - Place chickpea flour and salt in a bowl and begin pouring in water, a little at a time.
  Mix accurately to avoid lumps.
  Once finished water, you must have a homogeneous and liquid mixture.
  Cover with a lid or a dish towel and let it rest.
  How long? at least 4 hours most of the recipes say but real experts suggest to let your mixture rest overnight if you want to bake it in the morning or from morning to evening if planned for dinner time.
  I do so ;))
• - At this point, you have to remove the foam formed on the top with a slotted spoon and stir everything together adding half the oil, a little at a time.
• - You have to pour remaining olive oil into a non-stick baking pan of your choice. I usually use a baking pan whose diameter is 24 centimeters (9.5in).
• - Pour chickpea flour mixture into your baking pan and stir accurately to amalgamate even olive oil you've just placed in.
• - Meanwhile ...
  ... preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
• - Bake until golden, about 30 to 40 minutes but remember time depends on your oven.

Just before serving

• - Sprinkle your farinata with freshly ground black pepper, if you like it.
• - Slice it and serve still hot.

Note

Tips

• - The variants of this salt cake made with chickpea flour are endless, as it happens with all Italian recipes. You can sprinkle its surface with rosemary. You can distribute whitebait on its top in the last stage of cooking (so your farinata will be really fantastic!). You can bake it covered with a nice layer of onions. Someone also make it with borage or oregano. In short, you could also create your own version after trying its recipe. In fact, you must choose your right proportion between chickpea flour and water (someone increase water) and adapt cooking time to your oven.
• - Remember that farinata must be very thin (less than 1 centimeter - 0.4 inches) but this does not mean that everyone can not do it according to his own needs. In the picture you see Ligurian farinata produced by hand and cooked in a wood oven.

Menu planning

• - Farinata or socca can be made for your family menu but think of its calories and fat. The best solution is to accompany it with seasonal vegetables.
• - I have sometimes prepared farinata as an unusual antipasto that is Italian starter. I served it to accompany fish chowder or cold salads made with shrimps or octopus. In this way I opened a only-fish menu.

Healthy eating

• - Farinata is certainly not low-calorie. You have to know that 100 grams of chickpea flour has 356 calories and that to make a good farinata you need a lot of olive oil.
  So, since we start from an already unfavorable condition at the beginning, it is best not to eat large pieces of farinata and accompany it with satiating food, rich in fiber. This is the reason why I have just suggested seasonal vegetables in your family menu.
  Different the situation if you prepare farinata for your get-togethers. It is a rare event and so ... do not worry of calories and fate ;))
• - Fiber per serving: 3.4 grams.

Loretta

What's the right wine ?

Pair a good white wine to your farinata but remember that the choice could also be a light, still red wine depending on food you combine to this savory cake.