Wednesday, 8 February 2006

soc·ca

Socca is a Provençal dish which for some reason I came across a few years ago and have made ever since. I have no idea now where I first learnt of socca ; I have trawled my books but I was unable to find a single mention.
Socca is essentially a chickpea pancake. I make socca when I need a quick and easy, yet protein filled, starch to go with dinner. Ratatouille is an excellent foil for socca. I firmly believe this is the perfect type of supper for health giving and satisfaction - quite often two opposite ends of the supper continuum. And it is as cheap as chips - which is always a bonus!

A quick, easy and nutritious option to add to your supper goes like this :

Whisk chickpea flour with water until it is like thick cream or crêpe batter. For two people I use 1/3 cup of chickpea flour. Add more water or chickpea flour if the texture is not correct. Season with salt and pepper and leave for an hour to rest.
Heat a tin in an oven set as hot as you can - my oven's highest temperature is 250°c. When you are ready to cook lubricate the tin with some olive oil and then pour in the batter. Cook for 10 minutes or until crinkly at the edges and looking good. Remove from the tin, tear into pieces and dip into your ratatouille.
A popular addition to the basic batter is rosemary needles.

I have no idea if this is a traditional version or recipe and would welcome any comments on the subject.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Caroline, How does the Mark Bittman recipe compare to this? I am glad you are going to try it - chickpea flour is great!
Emma

Anonymous said...

It looks delicious. I'll have to try it soon! Thank you for sending your entry for the DMBLGIT 14.
Hugs,
M

Anonymous said...

Hi Emma...I came in search of this recipe again as I have FINALLY managed to track down chickpea flour in Ireland! From my memory of the Minimalist's recipe, I think he finishes the socca off under a grill to brown it. Must dig out that article, I know that I did clip it but, between house & country moves, it seems to be MIA at the moment.