It’s hard to believe that half of October has already passed and I have yet to talk about my Flavour of the Month for October 2008: Carol Field’s Italy in Small Bites.
I’m a big fan of Carol Field. I have a number of her cookbooks and have always had great success with them. To me, she’s one of those cookbook authors who just knows how to write a good recipe.
Italy in Small Bites is among my favourite Italian-themed cookbooks.
I chose this book for two reasons. First of all, ever since returning from my summer vacation, Italy is never far from my mind. And secondly, since Italy is never far from my mind, I seem to have zeroed in on Field’s book quite a bit since being back.
The basis of the book is an exploration of Italian snacks (hence the “small bites”). By snack, I refer to the concept of “merenda“. In Italy, la merenda is a mid-afternoon snack that tides you over until dinner, which is usually later in the evening (8:00 or 9:00 p.m. and sometimes even later). In my family, we would have merenda around 4:00 or 5:00 and it would almost always be something simple like a slice of bread drizzled with olive oil and sea salt, some coffee and cookies or a plate of fruit. Regardless of what our merenda consisted of, it would always be something small. Merenda is never a huge meal.
Italy in Small Bites is essentially a tour through Italy with glimpses of the incredible variety of foods that would be served at merenda. Now I should point out that Italians approach merende (the plural of merenda) in a multitude of differing ways. The snacks found in this book are not exclusively for mid-afternoon. As with all things involving Italian food, the variety is astounding.
There was one recipe in the book that I’ve had bookmarked for a long time, but that I’ve never tried and that’s a recipe for Farinata. In its simplest form, farinata is a think pancake made of chickpea flour thickened with water and usually olive oil. It’s baked until it’s golden and crispy. While farinata is very famous in the region of Liguria, there are numerous variations on the idea of the chickpea pancake throughout Italy.
I love anything made of chickpeas so it follows that I would adore anything made with chickpea flour. Like the very best “snacks”, this is an easy one to make and the end result is a crispy, slightly salty gift to the mouth that yields the essence of chickpea as soon as you bite into it. And it’s all delivered with a hug of rosemary and olive oil.
It was so good, it was almost as good as being in Italy with my family.
Hope you try it.
Ciao!
Note: I made the the recipe from Carol Field’s book but you can find recipes for farinata everywhere. Here are a few samples of some great versions of farinata:
Farinata with Onions and Black Pepper from Ilva of Lucullian Delights
16 comments
MyKitchenInHalfCups
I do believe I need this gift to my mouth ;0)
Kalyn
I’ve been wanting to try this forever, thanks for the reminder!
Rosa
I LOVE Farinata! It taste soo good, yet it’s very simple to make! Yours looks very good!
Cheers,
Rosa
Marla
I was mystified for the longest time as to what this was when I first tried it in Torino. Then I found Ilva’s recipe and discovered it was an easy addition to the repertoire. I like to add fresh ricotta, pepper, maybe a bit of grated parm and rucola and roll up the wedges for a different antipasti.
happy Thanksgiving to you too.
Katie
I’ve had this before but I had it in the south of France where basically they all eat like Italians! It was called Socca there and it was yummy….warm, crispy, gooey. Lovely. Can’t wait to tackle it on my own.
VeggieGirl
Can’t believe that October is half over either!! Craziness!!
Liliana
I am also a Carol Field fan and have a few of her cookbooks including ‘Italy in Small Bites’. The farinata looks delicious – I have to make it using the recipe in the book. I use chickpea flour usually to make ‘panelle di ceci’ a street food popular in Palermo, but it’s fried. I like the idea of the farinata being baked! Thanks for featuring this recipe on your blog.
Lynn
I have never baked with chickpea flour, I am eager to try it. Just like there are too many books to read and not enough time, there are too many recipes to try. But, this is something I will definitely try.
Lori
I made socca this past summer which the French equivalent of farinatta. I absolutely fell in love with it too. I have been wanting to make this recipe from her book as well. This gives me the push I need to go ahead and make it as it looks so amazing!
kickpleat
oooh, i love farinata! i’ve only had it once but it was pretty fantastic. must try again
peabody
Ya know, you are going to make me buy yet another cookbook! I need to drown my hockey sorrows somehow, eh?
Giulia
I love farinata!! YUMM!! Have to try it someday
Emily Rose
This looks wonderful! I love everything with chickpeas too!
Jude
I love making this stuff.. I always stock chickpea flour specifically for this (and socca)
The Food Hunter
That’s an interesting recipe. I really like Carol Field. I’ll have to check out that book. Thanks for sharing
We Are Never Full
we love farinata. we made it for our blog months ago but it looked much crispier than yours… we kind of cooked it longer so it became very crispy. i’m wondering if ours would’ve turned out more like yours if we took it out of the over earlier.