Farinata (Chickpea flatbread) [Pictures]

LTH,

Inspired by Michael M's picture and description of Farinata in his delightful Two Weeks of Eating in Italy as a Tourist post I invested $1.99 in a bag of chickpea flour at Patel Bros on Devon and, after viewing Antonius's post on the subject and browsing an internet recipe or two took a flyer.

First let me say I was well prepared for absolute disaster, even had a backup starch plan in the form of quick, easy and not bad at all Near East rice pilaf, I am, frankly, surprised the farinata turned out so well. No idea if it's an authentic reproduction, but it was tasty.

Basic recipe is dead simple, 1-1/2 cups chickpea flour mixed with 3 cups water, little olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.
Let rest for 4-hours at room temperature then skim the top layer of foam that accumulates.

Skimmed mixture


Pour into, in this case, a paella pan with a generous amount of olive oil.

Paella Pan w/farinata


As lump charcoal grilled buttermilk brined lamb shoulder was on the menu I decided to cook the farinata on my Weber kettle. I added a small chunk of hickory for accent.

Farinata on Weber Kettle w/lump charcoal and chunk of hickory


Farinata after about 20-minutes


Farinata with caramelized onions


Frankly, I was shocked I did not burn the hell out of the farinata.



I grilled buttermilk brined (w/toasted cumin, k-salt and rosemary) shoulder lamb chops while the farinata rested.

Lamb on Weber kettle


Steamed some artichokes and served dinner with tzatzki, Bulgarian goat milk feta and olives.

Grilled lamb shoulder, Bulgarian goat milk feta, olives


Steamed artichokes, Tzatziki


Dinner


Both my wife and I found farinata much to our liking, thanks for the inspiration Michael.

Loose recipe and additional pictures may be found here

Enjoy,
Gary

Dinner looks just delightful. I'm glad that the result was the opposite of your expectations.

I may have to just pick up a sack of chickpea flour pretty soon for myself.

Best,
Michael

Leftovers make for a nice hearty breakfast.

G Wiv wrote:Leftovers make for a nice hearty breakfast.

Huh - reading those other posts on farinata, I couldn't shake the thought of this being a great breakfast snack. And whaddya know, there it is .....