WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Socca is a savory flatbread made with chickpea flour that is popular in southern France, where it is served as an appetizer or a street-food snack. Often it’s served plain, but we decided to create a flavorful topping of Swiss chard, dried apricots, and toasted pistachios, tied together with the warm spiciness of cumin and allspice. The loose, pancake-like batter for the socca came together in less than a minute. Traditionally the batter is poured into a cast-iron skillet and baked in a wood-burning oven to make a large socca with a blistered top and a smoky flavor. But in a home oven, this technique produced socca that was dry and limp. So we ditched the oven for the higher heat of the stovetop, which gave us crispy, golden-brown socca. But flipping the skillet-size socca wasn’t as easy as we’d hoped. We solved this problem by making several smaller flatbreads instead. As an added bonus, the smaller flatbreads had a higher ratio of crunchy crust to tender interior. Chickpea flour is also sold as garbanzo bean flour and is available in most well-stocked supermarkets.
MAKES: 5 flatbreads, serves 4
TOTAL TIME: 45 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
BATTER
- 1½ cups (6¾ ounces) chickpea flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1½ cups water
- 6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
TOPPING
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped fine
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
- Salt and pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon allspice
- 12 ounces Swiss chard, stemmed and chopped
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped dried apricots
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped toasted pistachios
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
INSTRUCTIONS:
- FOR THE BATTER
- Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet.
- Adjust oven rack to middle position, place prepared sheet in oven, and heat oven to 200 degrees.
- Whisk flour, salt, pepper, and turmeric together in bowl.
- Slowly whisk in water and 3 tablespoons oil until combined and smooth.
- HEAT 2 TEASPOONS OIL IN 8-INCH NONSTICK SKILLET OVER MEDIUM HEAT UNTIL SHIMMERING
- Add ½ cup batter to skillet, tilting pan to coat bottom evenly.
- Reduce heat to medium and cook until crisp at edges and golden brown on bottom, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Flip socca and continue to cook until second side is browned, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Transfer to prepared rack and keep warm in oven.
- Repeat with remaining oil and batter.
- FOR THE TOPPING
- Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering.
- Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in garlic, cumin, ¼ teaspoon salt, and allspice and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in Swiss chard and apricots and cook until chard is wilted, 4 to 6 minutes.
- Off heat, stir in pistachios and vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Top each cooked socca with ⅓ cup chard mixture, slice, and serve.
