Socca for Lunch
One of my favorite things about working from home is having a freshly prepared lunch of exactly what I want to eat. Of course as you know, I indulge in full on breakfasts, even when I work outside the home, and typically cook dinner, but I never enjoyed having to pack a lunch and reheat something in a microwave to eat out of a glass container.
At home I get to eat it hot and fresh on real dishes with real cutlery, like real humans should eat their meals every day! But I digress!
The first time I saw Socca was many years ago in Saveur magazine. I was smitten! Socca is a pancake made from garbanzo bean flour. According to David Lebovitz it’s sold in Paris, cooked very thin with crispy edges and served sprinkled with salt as a street food. In the article I read it was a thicker pancake to be used as a base for toppings, or as a side bread, like a pita. Either way, it’s a fun food loaded with fiber and nutrition.
I gilded the lily and spread my socca with hummus and topped it with sautéed dinosaur kale, thinly sliced celery, and a generous dusting of feta. So good! I kept the extra socca batter in the fridge and made a pancake fresh whenever I want one. I would use the batter up in four days, any longer and it may begin to ferment.
Ingredients
Olive oil to fry the socca in
1 C garbanzo (or chickpea) flour
1 C water (or more if the batter is too thick)
1 t salt
1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t ground cumin
pinch garlic powder
pinch red pepper flakes
1 T olive oil
Directions
In a small bowl whisk the garbanzo bean flour and water together until smooth. Add the salt, onion powder, cumin, garlic powder, red pepper fakes, and 1 T olive oil and whisk until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, thin with a little water. The batter should be the consistency of heavy cream if you want to make crepe like pancakes, or thicker for a more traditional pancake. Let the batter sit 20 minute before using to thicken.
Place a medium sized pan on a high heat, once the pan is hot, lower the heat to medium and add about 2 t of olive oil to the pan, swirl the oil to evenly coat the pan. Ladle about 1/4 C of batter onto the pan and tilt the pan in all directions to evenly distribute the batter. Once the batter begins to brown and curl around the edges, slide a spatula underneath and flip the socca to cook the other side. Remove to a serving dish and sprinkle with sea salt (optional) and serve. To insure nice crispy chip-like edges cook the socca in about 1 T of oil, the extra oil will fry the edges.
This makes about 4-6 pancakes depending on how big or thick you make them. You can make them ahead and reheat them whenever you want to eat them, or you can keep the batter in the fridge and make one whenever you want one.
Serves 4
