When people come to Paris, they often ask me where they can find good bouillabaisse. And when I tell them, "You can't", they're always very surprised.
"Well, isn't it French?" they'll reply.
Yes, it is. But to get many of the regional specialties in France, you need to go to the region. Hence my frequent visits to Nice, to get socca at the fiery source.
And although you can make it at home, making it in a home oven is like baking off a batch of S'Mores in there: it's close, but not exactly the real thing. You really do need a wood-fire to get that blistered crust. Still, after much experimentation, I got it close in my home oven and I now make it all the time to serve with an apéritif before dinner.
Socca is basically street food, intended to be eaten off napkins to blot up all the excess olive oil, with plastic cups of frosty-cool rosé.
And for any wine snobs out there that think it's folly to serve wine in cups instead of glasses haven't had the pleasure of standing near a wood-burning oven, eating a blistering-hot wedge of socca with a non-recyclable tumbler of wine. Preferably served over ice, Marseille-style.
The quality of the chickpea flour, also called garbanzo flour, is important and my friend Tricia thought that perhaps unroasted chickpea flour is best, although you should use what you can find. Indian shops carry besam, Arabic markets carry it, as well as many Whole Foods markets.
Like most good people of Provence, she consulted the best book on authentic French cuisine available, The Sweet Life in Paris, and used my recipe.
The batter comes together quickly but should rest a few hours before using. A nice pour of good olive oil is obligatoire and a little dusting of ground cumin adds a touch of that smoky taste, similar to a wood-fired oven.
As I mentioned in the book, you ain't re-creating the Mona Lisa: socca is meant to be in rough shards, eaten with your fingers, and is especially good after a long day on a sun-saturated beach when your skin is tingling with sand and you can lick your lips and taste the sand of the Mediterranean.
And now that I've given you the recipe, enfin, I'm heading off into the sunset on a sailboat for a while.
So if you don't hear back, you can either assume all is well, or I've abandoned ship and decided to cast-away life in the big city of Paris for the laid-back vibe of the Côte d'Azur. But at least I've left you the recipe in my extended, and perhaps définitive, absence.
SoccaAbout three 9 10-inch (23cm) pancakes
1 cup (130g) chickpea flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (280ml) water
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
freshly-ground black pepper, plus additional sea salt and olive oil for serving
1. Mix together the flour, water, salt, cumin, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Let batter rest at least 2 hours, covered, at room temperature.
2. To cook, heat the broiler in your oven. Oil a 9- or 10-inch (23cm) pan with the remaining olive oil and heat the pan in the oven.
(I use a cast-iron skillet, but Tricia uses a non-stick tart pan.)
3. Once the pan and the oven are blazing-hot, pour enough batter into the pan to cover the bottom, swirl it around, then pop it back in the oven.
4. Bake until the socca is firm and beginning to blister and burn. The exact time will depend on your broiler.
5. Slide the socca out of the pan onto a cutting board, slice into pieces, then shower it with coarse salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.
6. Cook the remaining socca batter the same way, adding a touch more oil to the pan between each one.
Related Links and Posts
Chickpea Flour (Amazon)
Chickpea Flour (Bob's Red Mill)
A Taste of Provence (Tricia's cooking program in Provence)
David,
Thanks for the lovely recipe.Is this the same as farinata in italy? It was one of the most memorable things I had ever eaten in my whole life..
I love the picture of the woman consulting your book!
I made my first batch of ice cream yesterday and of course used the ice cream bible "The Perfect Scoop" as my guide. :)
This looks like a great snack for cocktails with my friends. Can't wait to give it a try. Enjoy your time away!
How come I always feel like I live under a rock when I read your posts David? 17 years in France and I've never heard of this! Have to say it looks like cardboard. Where do you find chickpea flour?
Oops. See you even gave that info. Don't think we have such a thing as a whole food market out here en banlieue, but I'll look in one of those Maghreb epiceries - I bet I'll find it there.
If you cook this under the broiler, how do you cook it over a wood fire? Do you turn it to cook both sides? Going to a cookout, and would like to know..Thanks!
aaah, farinata- one of the things i miss most about living in italy. we too found it necessary to drive out of piemonte where we lived and into liguria to find proper farinata- i have to say i like the genovese style of throwing on a bit of rosemarino. and of course there is the debate of origin- socca=nizza, farinata=liguria...
typo - besan (or gram flour), not besam. thanks.
Ooops! Woodburning OVEN, not fire. Sorry, didn't read carefully enough! Probably doable over fire though with a castiron skillet and lid. Hmmm.
Getting tired of the city huh? It was only a matter or time. One can only take so much beauty I suppose.
Nice photographs by the way. I enjoyed them.
Laura
the texture of the batter seems fantastic :)
David - thank you, thank you!! I was in Nice for three days in May and ended up eating Socca every day because I loved it so much (and figured that I should cram as much of it in me as I could just in case I never got back there again!). I've been craving it ever since so I can't tell you how pleased I am that you've put up the recipe. Guess that's my weekend sorted now! Thanks again!
"Indian shops carry besam"
David, it's Besan. If anyone's interested, you could try the Swad brand. I find it the best.
I love Tricia's hands.
Enfin is right! I love naturally gluten-free recipes. And while chickpea flour isn't my favorite, crepes certainly are. I'll have to try that added bit of cumin. Thanks!
And all this time we only knew about the soca with one c...Caribbean music that is. We learn something new every day.
Wonderful post, beautiful photos. I felt like I was right there with you... which might have been a little awkward considering we've never met ("Daveed, who ees zat leetle Americaine woman?" "Oh, don't mind her, she's one of my blog readers. More wine, anyone?")
I think the link to Tricia's website may be one letter off. Is this the right one?
http://www.tasteofprovence.com/
Have a wonderful time sailing -- what a charmed life. :)
Hello David - hope you are back from your absence and reading this! :)
Socca, to me, speaks so much of Nice, where I had my first ever (and sadly, last so far) socca. I had it at an open-air market in town, sold straight off a wood-fired oven. It was one of my fond moments there. A looooong time ago though!
Sadly it's really hard to find chickpea flour in Tokyo... I've heard you can make your own by grinding dried chickpeas in the food processor etc. but never actually got around trying it. It seems easier to fly to Nice, well, almost...
You guys have fun there!
i can't wait to try this recipe and can't wait to head to france in the late summer.