These past months have been tough, indeed. Loving ourselves never seemed harder, and at the same time it never felt more urgent and needed.
In the Italian philosophy, food is the primary source of solace and enjoyment. So we collected a series of recipes from Italian creatives and art girls, for you to try and taste.
Self-love is a practice and as such it requires a daily training. Enjoy these recipes as little exercises in self-love, and always remember that the first and most important ingredient of any recipe is passion.
Farinata with Agretti – Sara Bologna
This recipe is super quick, healthy and savory.
The Farinata is a thin, unleavened chickpea pancake that is typical of the Liguria region, but it comes in slightly different variants in many other Italian culinary traditions. Agretti, or “barba del frate” (“friar’s beard”) is the current name for Salsola soda, more commonly known in English as opposite-leaved saltwort, or barilla plant: it is basically a leafy vegetable that tastes grassy and salty.
If you can’t find Agretti you can replace it with other vegetables like asparagus or spinach, or try a more exotic version with wakame seaweed.
Ingredients
200gr chickpea flour
400gr water
50gr Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 bunch of agretti
1 clove of garlic
salt
pepper
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First, wash carefully the agretti and cut away the lower end (the whiteish part that is often thicker).
Sauté the garlic clove with a little olive oil in a frying pan; then add the agretti and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the mixture for the farinata: mix the chickpea flour, the water, the oil, add a pinch or two of salt and the pepper. You want the result to be quite liquid and soft as a batter, so the suggestion is that you add the water little by little until you reach the right consistency.
Remove the garlic from the pan and add the agretti to the mixture.
Pour the mixture in a round cake tin lined with oven paper. For a crunchy texture you can pour also a couple of pinches of poppy seeds all over the surface.
Cook in preheated oven at 200°C for 20-25 minutes.
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Sara Bologna is a designer based in Milan. She collaborates with associations and institutions for the ideation and coordination of cultural events and exhibitions, while developing her own independent design practice, focusing on the poetic and the spiritual properties of objects. At the moment, she is working with 5VIE Milano on projects dedicated to art-design and collectibles.
