Tour de France - Stage 21: Monaco to Nice.
Due to the upcoming Olympics, the tour is finishing outside of Paris for the first time ever. While the last stage was less anticlimactic, as it was a time trial and there was no bubbly being consumed while cycling down the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, I got to explore the tasty Niçoise cuisine once more. The last time I made a meal from Nice, four years ago, it was only my 2nd blog post! Today, I made a thin, crisped chickpea pancake known as socca. I topped it off with a tasty summer salad. You can really put anything on this socca and it’ll be great. A nice honey-yogurt sauce base would be welcome, or you could slice it up and just dunk the pieces into a tasty dip.
Socca
1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup warm water
2.5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Canola or vegetable oil for brushing skillet
6 oz zucchini, shave thinly with a vegetable peeler or mandoline set to ~1/16”
6 oz yellow squash, shaved as above
⅓ cup pitted nicoise (or black) olives, chopped
¼ cup sliced fresh chives
1 tsp thyme leaves
Juice from 1 lemon
Shredded ricotta salata cheese
Minced fresh mint leaves
Preheat a 12 inch cast iron skillet, in a preheated 450 degree oven, for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the chickpea flour, water, 1 tbsp evoo, and some salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined. The mixture should be a little thinner than pancake batter. Add a tbsp or two of more water, if needed.
Once the skillet has heated, brush the bottom with some canola oil. Whisk the chickpea batter briefly and pour it into the skillet, coating most (if not all) of the skillet’s bottom surface.
Bake in the oven for 12 minutes.
While the socca bakes, prepare the squash, olives, thyme, and chives and place them in a bowl. Add in the lemon juice and remaining evoo, along with a pinch of flaky sea salt and black pepper, and toss to combine.
Once the socca has cooked, remove it from the skillet. You can either invert it onto a serving platter or use a long spatula to flip it. Add the dressed veggies and sprinkle on the cheese and mint.
Drizzle with a little evoo, slice, and serve.
______________________________ Copyright 2024, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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