Easy Italian Recipes

 MAKE 4 SERVINGS

- 1 cup (4 oz/125 g) chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour
- Sea salt and coarsely ground pepper
- 1/3 cup (3 fl oz/80 ml) olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon for greasing the pan
- 1/2 yellow onion, very thinly sliced crosswise
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage or rosemary

In Liguria, cooks make a crepelike flatbread from a simple batter of chickpea flour, water, and olive oil that echoes the socco made just across the border in Nice. Called farinata and traditionally a street food, it is eaten plain or topped with vegetables, herbs, or other ingredients. Look for chickpea flour in Italian stores or in Indian markets, where it is Iabeled gram flour or besan.

In a bowl, whisk together the chickpea flour, 192 cups (12 fl oz/375 ml) water, 2 teaspoons salt, and the 1/3 cup olive oil until smooth. The batter should be fairly thin. Cover and let stand at room temperature for at least 4 hours, or refrigerate for up to overnight.
Bring 2 cups (16 fl oz/500 ml) water to a boil. Place the onion slices in a fine-mesh sieve in the sink. Pour the boiling water over the onions, then rinse the onions with cold water to remove their bitter sharpness.
Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 400°F (200°C). Once the oven is preheated, piace a 9-inch (23-cm) cast iron pan in the oven to heat about 5 minutes before baking the farinata.
While the pan is heating, add half of the sage to the batter and stir to mix. Squeeze any excess water from the onions. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, swirling to coat the bottom evenly.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and scatter the onions and the remaining sage evenly over the top. Bake unti! the farinata is cooked through and the edges are crisp and browned, about 2 minutes.
Carefully slide the farinata out of the pan onto a serving plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, cut into wedges, and serve at once..

Buon appetito!