Thursday, January 28, 2010

The Farinata Experiment

Well, week one of phase one is winding down here in the Mike's Health Mag household.  We've had some success, and some failure.  Tonight was an exciting night especially for Michael due to this new discovery--chick pea flour, and more specifically, Farinata.  Farinata are ancient Italian flatbread, still made in the region of Liguria.  Roman soldiers supposedly used these as quick sustenance while on the go, but I'm not sure how accurate that information is.

What I do know is, if you don't mind smoking up your house with a 550 degree oven, Farinata is for you.  Michael and I had fun with this one, heating our trusty old cast iron frying pan to a temperature it's probably never reached before, drizzling in some olive oil, and splashing in a ladle of batter.  Quite the spectacular sizzle!  We never managed to get one out of the oven before we burned the crap out of it.

Still, the results were crispy and delicious.  We'll be playing with this recipe again.  Michael has some ambitious plans to make a few undercooked Farinata and save them to use as a sort of flatbread pizza crust.  As for me, I loved them plain and I couldn't stop eating them.  You can definitely taste the chick peas, and for me, that's a very pleasant thing.  The texture really is like a thick tortilla or a huge savory pancake with a crispy outer layer.




  We served them alongside our chicken breasts cacciatore and they were perfect for sopping up the yummy sauce that had developed after braising the chicken with all of those veggies and tomatoes.  A very satisfying meal.  In the midst of our repast, Michael said to me "Please do this again!"

5 comments:

genevieve said...

Oooh, I'm excited that this worked out! I'll have to work up to this sometime soon. Also, I love the word 'repast.' Well done, Abs. And 'Mike,' of course.

~genevieve

Unknown said...

Sounds like fun in your kitchen.
Of course it is usually fun in your kitchen.

May I suggest not torturing the olive oil with that kind of heat, and trying instead Ghee.

Much Love, -Robert

Unknown said...

i was thinking the same thing as rob, but i like the way he put it better. :) i love reading your kitchen chronicles.

love to you all,
bunny

Unknown said...

i mean i was thinking the same thing as rob about the olive oil ;)

Abbey said...

@rob

Okay, Mister. I've got ghee now. I have no idea what to do with it, but we now own a jar of the stuff! You'll have to send me some ideas!

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