Cecína with anchovy-flavored zucchini flowers, toasted hazelnuts, Pecorino cheese and bottarga

• 15 minutes to prepare • 10 minutes to cook • Serves 4

 

10 MINUTES 

If you've been to the Tuscan coast you might have tried out cecina, a delicious sort of flat bread that is a great appetizer or snack.
Just like bread, it is best eaten right after it is ready. If you didn't have a chance to taste it or would like to try a really delicious treat, the cecina is made out of chickpea flour. It is easy to make and you'll get a taste of Tuscany direct in your kitchen.

This yummy treat requires very few ingredients - chickpea flour, water and olive oil! I read somewhere that the cecina was "invented" by accident along the coast when a ship carrying chickpea flour was caught in a storm. The flour was all wet but not wanting to throw it away, some oil was added and then it was cooked like bread and voila, cecina!

Today we will prepare a light and super-fast version of it, following the recipe by Un pinguino in cucina. We will garnish it with anchovy-flavored zucchini flowers, crunchy toasted hazelnuts, Pecorino cheese and bottarga!
Make sure to cook it in a hot pan until it has a golden crust.
Hurry up, we will be ready in 10 minutes!

Here's what you will need for the 4-serving recipe:

200 g chickpea flour
360 ml water
20 zucchini flowers
10 anchovy fillets in oil
100 g sliced Pecorino cheese
1 handful hazelnuts
tuna bottarga
salt and pepper
EVO oil

1. Whisk together the chickpea flour, a pinch salt and water (add the water gradually to avoid any lumps). When the batter is nice and smooth place it to rest in the fridge for 15 minutes
2. Toast hazelnuts in a hot pan. Coarsely chop and keep them aside
3. In a pan pour 4 tablespoons of EVO oil, add anchovy fillets and pan-fry for a couple of minutes
4. Wash, clean, chop zucchini flowers and add them, too
5. Cook gently perfuming with a pinch of pepper 
6. Pour the flatbread batter into a oiled, hot pan. Bake the cecina for 3 minutes each side, until it’s nice and golden on top
7. Sprinkle over some zucchini flowers and some toasted hazelnuts followed by 1 teaspoon of bottarga and Pecorino cheese slices. Make sure you eat serve it immediately as it drys out quite fast!
   

In the following, Nutrition Facts of this dish are indicated. Data is provided per serving.

Furnari quod pretium exigere debeant in coquendo scribilitas*

(Genoese decree, 1447)

*Which price bakers should ask when they bake cecina