Socca
A large chickpea flour pancake from Nice, baked in a searing-hot oven until crisp and blistered at the edges and tender in the middle.
Photo : Myrabella · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 25 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
Method
- Whisk the chickpea flour with the water, salt and 4 tbsp of oil until smooth and pourable, like a thin pancake batter.
- Rest the batter for at least 1 hour at room temperature, or up to 4 hours, so the flour hydrates fully.
- Preheat the oven to 250°C with a large cast-iron pan or a 30 cm baking tray inside.
- Take out the scorching pan, pour in 2 tbsp of oil to coat it, then pour in the batter to about 5 mm deep. Scatter over the rosemary.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden, crisp at the edges and lightly blistered. Finish for 2 minutes under the grill for extra colour.
- Grind over plenty of pepper, cut into rough pieces and eat piping hot with your fingers.
In Nice, socca is eaten standing up at the market, served in torn pieces in a paper cone. It wants lots of black pepper and above all must be eaten straight away.
