I got a free sample of Farinata mix from my work and decided to try it out tonight. I grabbed some spotty eggplants, spinach and parsley from the cull bin to throw on top. This one turned out pretty good. I should add that I prepared this somewhat incorrectly. Usually, the cake is just served on it's own, and cooks in a longer dish, making it much thinner. At least, that's what Wikipedia says...
Farinata, which I've never had before, is basically a chickpea frittata, and makes a good base for whatever you want to throw on. I boiled down the spinach and added a little marinara sauce to make a paste, spread that down and then put fried eggplant on top with crumbled cheese and parsley. The mix came courtesy of Lucini and retails for $5. I added some fried onions to the mix before putting is in the oven, which gave it a little more flavor. I used vegetable oil for lack of olive oil, which I'm sure would have tasted better.
Ingredients:
Farinata mix
5 cups loose uncooked spinach
1 cup marinara sauce
3 chopped garlic cloves
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 onion, sliced
2 eggplants, sliced lengthwise into thin slices
Vegetable oil
Any crumbly cheese
Preparation:
Farinata: Instructions are simple and on the package. You can easily find D.I.Y. recipes for similar mixes online. I added one onion, sliced and fried.
Sauce: Heat garlic in 1 tablespoon oil until browned, add spinach and stir until soft, add marinara sauce and simmer
Eggplant: Follow this link to a great article on technique for frying eggplants
Layer it all together and throw some cheese and parsley on top!
