When we are blessed with beautiful spring days, my approach to meals changes dramatically. I naturally start thinking of lighter foods and dishes that taste good at room temperature, like marinated beets, tender bitter greens, white bean aioli and flavorful roasted vegetable salads, all of which would be perfect paired with this delicious socca.

Socca is a crisp pancake-like flat bread made from chickpea flour. It is sold by street vendors in the south of France and has the same simple ingredients as panisse: chickpea flour, water, salt and olive oil, but it’s faster to make because the batter doesn’t need to be cooked first. You can also make the batter hours ahead.

It’s been years since I first made socca. So when the mild spring weather inspired a spontaneous get together with neighbors, I seized the opportunity to try it again. Socca is an ideal appetizer and snack food.  It’s best served in a casual setting as it tastes best fresh from the oven — unless you have a couple of cast iron skillets on hand, your guests will have to wait for the next socca to emerge.  I promise no one will mind though because they are definitely worth waiting for!

To accompany the socca I boiled some yellow and red beets (separately) until tender, slipped their skins off and tossed them with olive oil, salt, pepper and vinegar. The red beets were tossed with balsamic and the yellow with a combination of apple cider vinegar and brown rice vinegar. I left them marinating at room temperature all day, turning every time I walked by.

I also threw together a simple green salad of baby spinach, mustard greens, a few dandelion leaves, radishes and lots of chopped parsley and scallions all tossed in a lemon olive oil dressing.
The warm socca was a hit, topped with well-marinated beets, a knob of goat feta and a few dressed green leaves. I have to confess, they are really, really good eaten alone too!

Before making the socca this time I checked out recipes by Mark Bittman and David Lebovitz and adapted them to come up with this.

Socca

In the photos you can see that I sprinkled these with red chili flakes. I also made a few topped with finely sliced red onion that were even more delicious.

3 cups chickpea flour

3 cups warm water

¼ cup olive oil plus more for oiling skillet

3 teaspoons sea salt

½ teaspoon fresh black pepper

3 teaspoons freshly ground toasted cumin seeds

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

Hot chili flakes, optional

Finely sliced onion, optional

Place chickpea flour in a bowl, pour in half the water and whisk to combine. Add remaining water and whisk until smooth and free of any lumps. Stir in olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin and turmeric. Cover bowl and let batter sit for an hour or several.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place a 9-inch cast iron skillet in the oven for 5 minutes. Turn on broiler and remove skillet (carefully!). Drizzle 2 to 3 teaspoons of olive oil into skillet and tilt pan to evenly distribute. Pour 1 cup of batter into skillet and sprinkle with red chili flakes and or onion.

Place skillet under broiler and broil for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are browned, exact time will depend on your broiler. Flip socca onto a cutting board and slice into wedges. Serve hot or warm. Repeat as needed with remaining batter.

Makes about 6 9-inch socca.

Click here for printable recipe