Recipe Testing 11/14/2009

"Farinata" is an Italian chick pea flatbread. I have made once before just out of curiousity and my mother-in-law. Donna is gluten intolerant and I thought Farinata could be something all the family could enjoy together because it is made soley of chick pea flour and could taste pretty good. This thought then grew into a larger theme regarding Four n' Friends. This food item could expand the populace of people who may seek out such an item, the gluten intolerant, diabetics, health conscious and foodies. I, personally, feel that our food items should not only appeal to people who enjoy good food, but those who have food limitations, as well.

I was an aerobic instructor in college for the YMCA and took many nutrition and fitness seminars during that time. I, also, was a pharmacist for thirteen years and have seen first hand the perils of being unhealthy and the many drugs used to treat those maladies and their side effects. I have researched many diets, Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers, Food Combining and Vegetarianism, as well. These five diet trends stick out in my mind, as I have adopted each one of them at some point in my life in order to, as a woman, maintain health and my figure, but mostly my figure. The main elements of all those diets float around in my head. I was trained at the French Culinary Institute and learned to love the French culinary arts and butter, cream and charcuterie. However, at home I do try to make dinners healthy in some way, even if it is just "all natural"; nothing processed and quality meat, produce and dairy (it justifies the butter and wine, right?).

Back to the Farinata. I got the recipe from "Cucina Italiana", no. 13, September/October 2009:



2 cups warm water

1-1/2 cups chick pea flour

1-1/2 fine sea salt

6-1/2 T extra virgin olive oil

ground black pepper



Whisk chick pea flour into water and let stand at room temp. at least 2 hours or overnight. Put 8-inch cast iron skillet in oven and preheat oven to 500 degrees (my note: wait an additional 10 minutes after oven says temperature is reached to ensure all of oven is heated, not just the air). Skim foam from batter, then stir in salt and 2 T oil.

Take skillet out of the oven and swirl in 1-1/2 T oil to coat.

To make "Four n' Friends Fatbread" I added 1 T Zahtar to batter and omitted the salt. I did not measure the oil. I baked flatbread at 450 degress, not trusting my oven. I used less batter to coat the skillet to make it thinner, baked for the same amount of time and used salt on top instead of pepper. We will test the flavor with hummus I am testing Sunday.

At this point, the flatbread needs to be thinner and no salt on top. That's it until the tasting with Four n' Friends (no added fat) hummus.