For your weekday lunches or chill Weekend brunches, I urge you to make this glutenfree Génoise classic! I have used yoghurt and baking powder for a fluffy center and Yorkshire pudding cooking principle of batter in super hot oil for crisp edges. Hope you like it as much as we do.

*it involves resting time so make sure to read the full recipe to plan accordingly

INGREDIENTS (serves 4 as a side)

Batter

200g Chickpea Flour

30g Full Fat Greek Yoghurt (sub with your preferred vegan yoghurt)

575g Cold Water

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1.5 tsp Salt

1.5 tsp ground White Pepper (substitute with black pepper)

2 tsp Baharat Spice Blend (optional but highly recommended)

2 tbsp Olive Oil

2 tbsp chopped Tarragon leaves

Filling

100g Leeks (only white & light green portion), sliced into thin rounds

1 large Fennel Bulb cut into 8-10 wedges

Pinch of sugar

1 tsp Olive Oil

2 tbsp Toasted Pumpkin Seeds (optional)

50ml Neutral Oil

Flaky Sea Salt & Fennel Fronds for garnish

Pickled Asparagus (optional)

8-10 Green Asparagus, shaved into thin strips

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tbsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp Chile flakes

1 tbsp chopped fresh Basil leaves

1 tbsp chopped fresh Tarragon leaves

Sauce (optional)

1 tbsp Unsalted Butter (substitute with vegan butter or oil)

15 Cherry Tomatoes

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 small Shallot, chopped

1/4 tsp Chile flakes

1 tsp Sugar

1/4 tsp Salt

2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Directions

🥣 Combine and whisk first 3 batter ingredients until very smooth (ensure no dry floury spots remain). Cover & let it rest at room temp for 4-5 hours or overnight

🥣 Meanwhile make the sauce. Melt butter in a skillet, add tomatoes, garlic and shallot. Fry on medium heat for 10 mins or until tomatoes have broken down & look jammy. Once cooled, blitz the contents from skillet with remaining ingredients. Adjust seasoning & vinegar, if required. Keep it aside

🥣 Now add remaining batter ingredients to the rested base batter mix. Add leek rounds and whisk everything; pre-heat oven to 465F (or 230C). Now add 50ml oil to a 33 x 23 cm large baking dish & pop into pre-heating oven

🥣 Heat up 1 tsp olive oil in a pan, add fennel wedges & sugar. Lightly caramelize the wedges all over, for 3 mins. Take out the baking dish after 15 mins & immediately pour the batter while it makes a hissing noise. Swiftly arrange the Fennel wedges on top and put it back into the oven for 18-20 mins or until the edges look deep golden & crisp

🥣 While the Farinata is in oven, make the pickled asparagus - toss all ingredients & let it pickle for 20 mins. Once out of the oven, run a spatula underneath & transfer the Farinata onto a board , sprinkle flaky salt & more white pepper. Cut into squares, serve along with the sauce and pickled asparagus. Highly recommend with some Lillet Blanc or Rosé

*Note: you can absolutely substitute shaved asparagus with some arugula

Recipes

Leeky Fennel Farinata with Fixings