A specialty of Nice, Socca is similar to a soft crepe and made with chickpea flour. It’s a traditional protein-packed street food sold wrapped in paper.

I like to make them into mini pancakes similar to Russian Blini with the addition of egg whites and serve them as hors d'oeuvres. You can also make larger pancakes and serve them as a first course or light entree. 

Top the blini with a base of creamy goat cheese, such as chevre cheese, thick yogurt, ricotta, or hummus.

Garnish with Mediterranean-style toppings such as sliced olives, pickled or caramelized onions, capers, baby lettuce, olive tapenade, hummus, pizza toppings, crème frâiche, roasted cherry tomatoes, or caviar.

Socca

makes 24 to 30 mini pancakes

What you need:

1 ¾ cups chickpea flour (garbanzo flour)

1 ¾ cups water

1 ½ Tbsp olive oil

¾ tsp salt

2 large egg whites, room temp

pinch cream of tartar

Procedure 

• Put the chickpea flour, salt, olive oil, salt and water in a bowl and whisk until completely smooth. Let the batter sit for 10 minutes. Add more flour if needed to create a consistency similar to pancake batter.
• In a mixer fitted with a whisk, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add a pinch of cream of tartar and whip until stiff but glossy. 
• Fold ¼ of the whites into the batter. Fold the remaining whites into the batter just until blended but still seeing streaks of white.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment and lightly brush with olive oil.

For large pancakes:

• Heat a 6-inch nonstick pan brushed with olive oil to medium heat. Add one-quarter of the batter, forming a pancake about 1/4-inch thick. 
• Bubbles will form on the surface after about 2 minutes. Use a spatula to flip the pancake and cook for another minute or until done. 
• Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining batter. 
• Pancakes can be rewarmed in a 350º oven for 5 minutes.

For miniature pancakes, use a larger pan or stove-top pancake griddle and follow the above instructions, warming pancakes for one minute in the oven. Top and serve.

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes:

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Lightly toss whole cherry tomatoes with olive oil on a parchment-lined sheet pan. 
2. Mix equal parts salt and dried herbs that you’ve rubbed between your hands to create a fine powder and release the essential oils. This could be dried basil, oregano, etc. Sprinkle the tomatoes lightly with the salt. 
3. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes or until soft. Cool, and place in a bowl.
4. Use to top socca, croustini, add to salads, serve as an accompaniment to cheese…

Socca adapted from “Plenty” by Yotam Ottolenghi