A Sucker for Socca

Just one of the many excellent uses for chickpea flour.

I don't clearly remember how I spent all my time on the French Riviera when I was twenty. I chased French boys, went topless on the beach (blush) and drank plenty of Stella Artois beer in the open-air cafes. Somehow I missed out on socca, the crispy chickpea crepes common in Nice.

I can't right the wrongs of my bad behavior from those days, but I can make up for lost time by making all the socca my family will tolerate.

I adore garbanzo beans, aka chickpeas, but I can never find enough uses for them. In our house, they find their way into soups, stews and salads. Raw, I grind them for heavenly falafel. When I discovered that Bob's Red Mill sold garbanzo bean flour, I became their best customer. Then I tried to find multiple uses for it, besides making the hummus I used to whisk up on every backpacking trip (and, as a result, cannot stomach to this day).

I first made standard socca, mixing water, olive oil and salt to the chickpea flour. After letting the batter stand for the starches to swell, I broiled thin pancakes as instructed by David Lebovitz on his blog.

I expected my girls to love them as much as they love pita breads, corn tortillas and pizza. Alas, it was not to be. Truth be told, the socca were a bit too plain even for me (maybe I need to spend more time in Nice), and I ate mine rolled up with ratatouille.

So, for the next round, I used the chickpea flour in place of all-purpose to make my favorite zucchini fritters. Larger than fritters, they turned out more like pancakes, which I topped with the last tomato from the garden--a golden one at that--and a dollop of sour cream (just because).

The resulting chickpea zucchini pancakes may be as far from socca as I am from my twenties, but they are going into my weeknight supper pantheon, though they are also a lovely hot lunch to make for special friends.

I'm not gluten-intolerant. Nor am I vegan. But if I was, I would perhaps love chickpea flour even more than I do now.

Which is to say, a lot.

Recipe: Curried Chickpea Zucchini Pancakes