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Chickpea farinata is a kind of savory cake, very low and thin, covered with a light golden crust. A simple recipe, which is made with few ingredients and which has very ancient origins, that of chickpea farinata; an Italian specialty, but which finds its fulcrum in Liguria and more precisely in the Genoa area. The farinata recipe is very simple and created with a batter based on chickpea flour, water, extra virgin olive oil (in this case ours from Frantoio Bonamini) and salt. Traditionally it is cooked in a wood-fired oven but the farinata chickpeas can also be cooked easily in the oven at home.
The procedure is simple, as mentioned, but it is also very important to say that it is necessary to have some important precautions for the success of the chickpea farinata recipe…
In first place we find the resting time, essential to completely hydrate the dried chickpeas for the farinata. Then it is important to choose the right pan for chickpea farinata and grease it generously with extra virgin olive oil, to prevent the farinata from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
If you pay attention to these details, chickpea farinata will be widely used in the kitchen and will surprise you with its authenticity. This farinata recipe can be found on the menus of the most famous street foods, even with different names and uses such as: cecina, socca, fainè or 5&5 as chickpea farinata is called in the Livorno area. It can be enjoyed inside a sandwich, as a real condiment, as an appetizer to accompany cured meats and cheeses or simply, the beauty and goodness of chickpea farinata is that it is also excellent consumed on its own.
Do you know how we like to create it but above all eat it?
Farinata ingredients
(for 3 baking trays with a diameter of 32 cm)
• Chickpea flour 300g
• Bonamini “Santa Giustina” extra virgin olive oil 50g
• Water 900g
• Salt 10g
• Pepper as needed.
• To grease the tray with extra virgin olive oil: “San Felice” Bonamini extra virgin olive oil 70g
Preparation
• For the chickpea farinata, mix the chickpea flour and water together in a large bowl and mix by hand with a whisk
• Once you have obtained a homogeneous chickpea batter, cover the bowl with a lid and let it rest for at least 6 hours or better yet overnight (advice: if the resting time for the chickpea farinata exceeds 10 hours it is better to place the bowl in fridge)
• Once the time has passed, remove the foam that has formed on the surface with a slotted spoon and mix again with a whisk to mix in the chickpea flour that may have settled on the bottom
• Add the “Santa Giustina” Bonamini olive oil and the salt, continuing to mix to mix everything together
• Once it reaches the ideal homogeneous consistency, take a baking tray and grease it generously with “San Felice” Bonamini extra virgin olive oil, then pour in 1/3 of the chickpea batter (the doses shown will be enough for 3 portions of chickpea farinatas of the same diameter )
• Cook in a static oven at 250 °C for the first 10 minutes, placing the pan with the farinata on the lowest shelf
• Then continue cooking the chickpea farinata for another 10-15 minutes or until the surface of our recipe has become golden and crunchy, taking care to move the pan to the middle shelf
• Once the farinata has finished cooking, sprinkle it with plenty of pepper and serve it hot and sliced
We at Frantoio Bonamini keep the chickpea farinata in the fridge for 3-4 days, in an airtight container and, sometimes, we like to use just one dripping pan instead of three, in this particular case we also recommend using paper oven.
To conclude… did you know that there is a particular legend about chickpea farinata?
Legend has it that it was born towards the end of 1200, when the boats of Genoa, returning from the battle won against Pisa, were hit by a ferocious storm and that some barrels of olive oil and chickpea flour overturned, getting wet with the salty sea water.
Scarce of food and resources, the more supplies were recovered by the sailors and for dinner, they were served that chickpea and oil batter which, in an attempt to make it more eatable, was left to dry in the sun, obtaining this sort of chickpea pancake. .
Once they arrived home, the Genoese began to perfect the recipe for chickpea farinata, making it the culinary specialty that it is today and which, to mock the defeated Pisans, was first called L’Oro di Pisa!
