MotherFood-special: Torta di ceci from Giulia Scarpaleggia

Livornese people would call this not just a cake, torta, but la torta, the cake, as for them it’s unequaled. And don’t call it cecina, a dish that, though equal in shape, ingredients, cooking and flavour, comes from Pisa. If you prefer, go ahead and call it cinque e cinque, meaning “five and five.” In the past, it was customary in Livorno’s popular street food scene to order five cents’ worth of this torta and five cents’ worth of bread, usually the long, thin loaf called francesino or round, soft schiacciatina.

Though best when baked in a wood-fired oven and using large, round copper baking sheets, it can be made at home. Without the heat generated by a wood oven, it won’t obtain its characteristic golden crunchiness, but with a very hot oven and heated baking sheet, you can achieve something very close to the original.

The traditional way of serving this torta is with a generous dusting of black pepper, inside a sandwich along with a few slices of grilled aubergine.

We love it to make it for dinner. In this case, I like to add some vegetables to the batter, as thinly sliced spring onions, Tuscan kale, or peppers.

For the torta 

100 grams chickpea flour 

300 ml (1 & 1⁄4 cups) water
3 grams fine sea salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 

Quality seed oil for greasing the baking dish 

freshly ground black pepper 

For the aubergine 

2 aubergines
1 small bunch fresh parsley 

1 small bunch fresh mint
1 garlic clove
a few basil leaves
extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper 

Slowly pour the water into the chickpea flour while whisking continuously to prevent lumps. When the water is completely incorporated, add the extra virgin olive oil and salt. Let the batter rest at room temperature for a few hours, after which scoop off the foam that forms on the surface. 

Place a round baking sheet about 25 cm in diameter in the oven and set the temperature to maximum. The baking sheet should be very hot when you put the torta in the oven.
Once the sheet is hot, grease it with the oil and pour in the batter to form a thin layer no more than 3 or 4 mm. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 250°C, until crunchy and golden on the surface but still soft inside. 

Meanwhile, slice the aubergines into thin slices.

Heat a non-stick or cast-iron pan and grill the aubergine slices until soft and golden. Chop the garlic, parsley, basil and mint together and sprinkle over the grilled eggplant while still hot, so they absorb the flavours. Add the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and combine well. Serve the chickpea cake with plenty of freshly ground black pepper, alongside the grilled aubergine. 

You can listen to our conversation on the MotherFood Podcast and get more inspiration for Italian dishes from Jul’s Kitchen