Farinata

I think this is one of the most tasty dishes of Genoa's cuisine… and it is very simple to cook.

This is also one of the first fast food dishes ever invented.

It was baked by the "farinotti" (Farinata bakers) in large and heavy tin-plated copper baking sheets (1 m in diameter). It was brought to the port and, there, it was eaten by seamen and port labourers.

In 1447 a law was passed to prevent bakers from using a second-rate kind of oil to bake Farinata.

Ingredients:

serve 6

chickpea fllour 500 Gr.

Oil 0.125 l.

Water 1.75 l.

Salt

Put the chickpea flour in a bowl, add water and two pinches of salt. Stir with a wooden spoon to have the flour melted.

Let it stand for half hour, sift it to take all the lumps away. Oil a 50cm-large baking sheet, its edges ought to be at least 3cm-high. Pour the mixture in it and keep stirring to mix the oil and the mixture itself.

The baking sheet has to be kept in an horizontal position!