Confit Tomatoes and Burrata over Farinata

This dish takes a long time to cook, but it’s actually quite simple for such a striking and tasty dish.

Farinata is an Italian flatbread made from chickpea flour. If you’re having a hard time sourcing the flour, you could just use naan or slices of toasted Italian white bread instead.

The juices of the confit tomatoes, burrata, and chili-basil sauce intermingle on the bottom of the plate and the bread acts like a sponge to soak it all up. Delicious!

Serve this on its own, or with salad, or roasted vegetables. I served it with pan-roasted baby zucchini.

Prep Time30 min
Cook Time4 hr 30 min
Total Time5 hr
Yield2 large servings with extra farinata

Cuisine
- Italian
Course
- Main Course
Cooking Method
- Confit
- Baking
Suitable for Diet
- Vegetarian
Special Equipment
- Mortar and Pestle or Food Processor

Ingredients

For the Confit Tomatoes

6 tomatoes, stemmed and quartered (use different coloured tomatoes for visual effect)
1/2 cup (125ml) extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of kosher salt

For the Farinata

2 cups (184g) chickpea flour (aka besan or gram)
3 cups (750ml) cold water
1 teaspoon (3g) kosher salt
Black pepper
1 teaspoon (2g) dried Italian herb blend and/or dried rosemary leaves
1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil

Putting it all together

1 tablespoon Calabrian chilies in oil, chopped (or bomba chili paste, or any other chilies you have on hand)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup (small handful) fresh basil leaves, chopped + more for garnish
2 tablespoons (30ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon (5ml) red wine vinegar
8 oz (225g) burrata cheese

Preparation

For the confit tomatoes

Preheat oven to 200°F (95°C).

Put the tomatoes onto a lined sheet pan and toss with the olive oil and salt.

Put into the oven for 4 hours, flipping once.

The tomatoes should collapse in on themselves a bit.

This can be done ahead of time, just reheat the tomatoes before serving.

For the farinata

Pour the chickpea flour into a large bowl. Add the water slowly, whisking the whole time and being sure to whisk out any lumps.

Whisk in the salt, a couple grinds of black pepper, and the herbs. This will look more like a batter than a dough.

Let sit for 2-4 hours on the counter.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Give the batter a gentle stir.

Pour the olive oil onto a sheet pan. Pour the batter onto the oil, then carefully transfer the sheet pan to the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Cut into triangles.

Putting it all together

Let the burrata come to room temperature.

Add the chilies, garlic, basil and a tiny pinch of kosher salt to a mortar and pestle. Bash and scrape until the solids begin to break down, about 2 minutes. Add olive oil and vinegar and bash for another minute. This could also be done in a food processor or blender, but mortar and pestle is best.

Add two triangular pieces of farinata to a plate. Top with half or a whole ball of burrata (depending on how yours comes in the package) and press it down with a spoon to break it. Spoon on the warm confit tomatoes and the chili-basil sauce. Sprinkle with fresh torn basil leaves. Serve with salad or roasted veggies like baby zucchini. Enjoy!