Ruth Rogers, a founding father of the famed River Cafe in London, introduced money to a parking zone in Pisa, Italy, to satisfy a vendor she related with via a Ligurian acquaintance.
It wasn’t a bootleg deal; she was merely looking for a substitute for the frying pans she’d been utilizing to make farinata, a crisp-creamy pancake constructed from simply chickpea flour, olive oil, water and salt. Almost a decade later, that specialty pan constructed from dimpled copper and tin, and meant particularly for farinata, stays in rotation on the River Cafe, the place it’s used to end up the savory chickpea dish nearly each day.
Farinata has an extended historical past as a avenue meals in a nook of the Mediterranean coast stretching from Liguria to the French Riviera, and its preparation varies little regardless of the completely different names by which it goes: belecauda, or “good and sizzling,” accurately served, in Piedmont; socca in Good; cade in Toulon; cecina; fainá; and fainè.
Fausto Marino, a third-generation Ligurian miller at Mulino Marino, which provides the River Cafe with recent chickpea flour, stated that native legend attributes farinata’s origins to a storm that raged in the summertime of 1284. As a marine battle roared between the Genovese and Pisan republics, waves supposedly encompassed a Genovese ship, rupturing containers of chickpea flour and olive oil. The tumult was stated to have combined these substances with saltwater and produced an unintended batter that baked within the solar — and gave the Genovese a brand new recipe to enhance their army victory. One other unverifiable legend goes that Roman troopers cooked the primary farinate on their shields. Doubtful as these origins could also be, it speaks to the area’s longstanding appreciation for farinata.
The dish has caught on elsewhere in current a long time. French Louie in Brooklyn has saved socca on its menu since opening in 2014, and the dish has appeared on American menus from Dallas to Nashville to San Francisco. It has additionally turn into a well-liked pizza topping in Argentina, and on the River Cafe, it has been on the menu for practically three a long time. (Ms. Rogers stated she’d observed a rise in demand for the dish over the previous eight years, and Mr. Marino, the chickpea flour it employs.)
Gluten-free and vegan pleasant, farinata accommodates a variety of eaters with protein-rich taste. Diners, particularly these avoiding gluten, “get very upset if we don’t have it,” Ms. Rogers stated.
Its foremost substances have monthslong shelf lives, so the chickpea pancake will be made year-round with out compromise. And it’s a versatile base, making it a perfect plant-based different to frittata. In Liguria, it’s usually a couple of quarter-inch thick, cooked with a sprinkling of sliced onions or served with a facet of cured meats, however it may well simply as simply be made thicker and embellished with a hearty serving of greens or cheese.
And conveniently, when freshly milled Italian chickpea flour and a parking-lot pan buy aren’t choices, a bag of Bob’s Crimson Mill and a cast-iron or chrome steel skillet will do.