‘Cecina’ with baked cherry tomatoes and herbs
A delicious Tuscan vegetarian alternative! If you are intrigued by vegetarian cooking you can learn to make Cecina at MaMa Florence in one of our Traditional Tuscan cooking courses!
For the ‘Cecina’ cake
• 200 gr chickpea flour
• 400 gr water
• 4 gr salt
• 1 rosemary branch finely minced
• 10 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Pepper, to taste
For the baked tomatoes
• 20 cherry tomatoes (preferably a variety that is not
too tart)
• 2 garlic cloves
• A sprig of fresh oregano or marjoram or basil
• 20 cl extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
Make the Cecina
• Preheat oven at 250°C.
• Put the water in to a bowl, add the chickpea flour, mix quickly and add the minced rosemary to
the mixture. Let sit at room temperature for an hour so that the chickpea flour absorbs the water,
then stir vigorously with a whisk, until smooth.
• In the preheated oven, place a baking pan with 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and leave it
in for a couple of minutes; in the meantime add salt, oil and pepper to the mixture and mix again.
• Take the pan out of the oven, pour in the mixture, add 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil on
top and bake for 20-25 minutes at 250°C.
Make baked tomatoes
• Cut the tomatoes in half, lay them with the open side on top on a baking tray and add salt.
• Finely chop the fresh herbs and garlic and mix them with the olive oil and black pepper in a small
bowl, pour a teaspoon of this mixture over each cherry tomato.
• Bake at 200°C for 30 minutes in the preheated oven.
Complete the dish
• Once cooked, let the cecina rest for about 10 minutes and then cut it into squares or slices, place a
cherry tomato on each piece of cecina.
• Plate and serve warm.
