Farinata frittata turns farinata into a main course

This version featured sturdy greens and Greek sausage.

 

Even though I posted in January 2018 I thought I'd found the ultimate farinata technique, I've continued to experiment over the last few years, and have had my share of successes and "meh"s.  One day, though, I thought, "why not turn this from an appetizer into a main course", and merge the concept of farinata and frittata.  You'll find the basic technique here to be the same as for ultimate farinata, except with more batter, a couple of eggs, and lots more mix-ins.

 The result is a savory/eggy meal that stands on its own, and can be as boldly flavored as you like!

Farinata Frittata

The Basic Building Blocks

• 1.5 cups flour (usually 1 cup chickpea flour (besan) and ½ cup cornmeal, semolina, or something else that’s gluten free or low gluten)

• 2 cups water

• 1.5 tsp salt

• 2 eggs

• 1 onion, small or large

• 8 glugs of olive (or other) oil

Flavoring Add ins (optional, as many or few as desired):

• 1 tsp onion or garlic powder, or both

• ¼ c nutritional yeast

• 1 - 2 tsp seeds:  cumin or fennel

• 1 tsp harissa

• 1 tsp anchovy paste, or jarred anchovies

• Turmeric

• Kashmiri chili

Vegetables (and meat) examples:

• 2 cups kale, chopped

• Mushrooms, fresh or frozen and/or dried (rehydrated)

• Tomatoes, 

• Fennel, chopped

• Carrots

• Sausage or ground meat

• Cubed boneless/skinless chicken thigh

• Bacon

• Cheese

• You get the idea

Method:

1. Mix the flour, water, and salt in a bowl, and let sit for at least an hour (if you can) or all day.  This lets the flour hydrate.

2. Preheat oven to hot (say, 475 degrees on convection), with cast iron skillet, oil, and onions.  Heat until onions are sizzling and brown, approaching burned, about 10-15 minutes.

3. Add any whole spices (e.g., cumin, fennel) and let them bloom -- 30 seconds to a minute.

4. Add vegetables or meat and cook until mostly cooked through (they'll be cooking more shortly).

5. Mix the egg to the batter, and the swirl the batter into the skillet, making sure all the meat and vegetables are evenly distributed.  Put in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or more, until the batter is set and the farinata frittata starts to pull away from the edges of the skillet.

6. Remove the skillet from the oven and let sit for at least five minutes before cutting into wedges to serve. It's easiest to cut this right in the pan rather than trying to transfer to a cutting board. Be careful, and remember that skillet is HOT!

Linguine ala Carbonara - Extreme

First of all, Happy New Year!  I started this post just after New Year, and am just getting around to finishing it off.

My New Year's eve experiment was to do a recipe out of Jim Lahey's new book, My Bread. Walnut bread, with raisins and a subtle cinnamon flavor. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. Fortunately, it was fantastic!! My first foray beyond the pretty basic no-knead approach I'd been using since Bittman first popularized the technique a few years ago. But I digress. Hopefully, I'll make it again, and report back.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon Dave's Fresh Pasta in Davis Square, where I discovered fantastic sandwiches. Fantastic. If you've never been, go.  You won't be sorry.  It's hard to imagine getting wound up over a sandwich, but check it out, you'll see.

But it's called Dave's FRESH PASTA, so I thought if they were so good at sandwiches, they'd have to be wizards at pasta.  I hadn't ever paid much attention to fresh pasta before, other than the gluey stuff you get at the supermarket. At Dave's they've got four or five basic pasta types (plain, black pepper, tomato, spinach). And they say a pound will serve 3 or 4.  But when I saw the size of a half-pound black pepper linguine, I figured it would never be enough, so got another quarter pound  The half pound would've been fine -- lesson -- listen to the experts.  

I've been making Spaghetti Alla Carbonara for years, and it was always a family favorite.  With bacon as a central character, how could it not be?  This was to be different, however.

First, I used guanciale instead of bacon, that I procured on my last trip to Seattle, to Salumi.  I'd been wanting to try guanciale for some time, and Salumi had some on their special board, so I picked up a quarter pound to bring home.  Guanciale, by the way, is pork jowls.  Cured.

So I got a pot of water going for the pasta, and got the diced guanciale going in the skillet.  Meanwhile, I mixed two beaten eggs with a few glops of half-and-half, and a half cup or so of parmesan cheese made nice and fluffy by my new microplane and quite a few turns of the pepper mill.

When the guanciale was crisp, it was time to immerse the pasta for a couple of short minutes, until al dente tender, a quick drain, back into the pot and add the egg mixture and the guanciale.  Stir quickly to let the eggs cook in the heat of the pasta, and serve while hot.

The pasta was unlike anything I'd ever had.  It had taste. A depth of flavor that I really don't expect from pasta.   And texture -- silky but with some backbone..  And the carbonara treatment was perfect to accentuate all the fun of the fresh pasta.  I think I'm now spoiled.  It's going to be difficult to go back, except that it's not as easy to keep fresh pasta in the cupboard for months on end.

Bean and green saute, with tomatoes and eggs: Start with a pot of beans, part 2

Two containers of wet and wonderful beans from the weekend's cooking.  What to do next?  A new cooking challenge for me this fall has been a foray into the world of CSA -- community supported agriculture.  I signed up with Enterprise Farm this summer, and as a result I get a box of produce each Wednesday, that demands attention, especially as the next Wednesday rolls around, and I haven't eaten everything that won't keep from the previous week.  This week, it was dandelion greens.  More greens.

So I had to use greens.  And, I had bought a big box of field tomatoes from Wilson Farm that were going to be used for slow roasting (stay tuned!!), but I had plenty more to use.  I've discovered only recently how terrific tomatoes are when they're cooked.  Either a lot, like with slow roasting, or just a bit, when added to a saute pan with other things.  Even so-so tomatoes burst into sweetness and complex flavor when cooked. Try it -- you'll see!

Beans, greens, tomatoes.  A good start.  Heat some olive oil, add a smashed clove of garlic and a couple of chopped tomatoes (seeds and all).  Cook for about 10 minutes, until the tomatoes start to reduce in size.  If you cook longer, they'll practically disappear, concentrating the tomato flavor even more, but I was hoping to recognize the tomatoes when was done.  Add the chopped greens and let until they start to wilt, and then add the cooked beans with some of the bean cooking liquid.  Bring to a boil and simmer for as long as you can to meld the flavors.

Looking at all the soupy goodness caused two inspirations.  One, was to serve it over polenta, which works well with anything runny.  And the other was to poach a couple of eggs in the simmering pan, so that they'd ooze out all over when it was time to eat.

Seasoning was a salt, pepper and half teaspoon or so of chili powder.   Mine came from Chimayo New Mexico, but whatever you have, I'm sure will be great.

This beat my expectation.  The taste was great, but the texture was superb.  The runny egg imparted a silky feeling to the whole thing, and a rich flavor to the concoction.  I'll be trying that trick again sometime soon.

See the rest of the series:
Start with a pot of beans
Bean and green saute, with tomatoes and eggs: Start with a pot of beans, Part 2
Bean soup: Start with a pot of beans, Part 3
Into the freezer: Start with a pot of beans, Part 4

And, there's an October blog carnival on -- legumes hosted by Cook Sister inspired by My Legume Love Affair on Well Seasoned Cook.