Category Archives: recipes

April 29, 2011 · 2:05 pm

SOcca Good

Wow, thanks for all the positive response from yesterday’s post!  And all the compliments. 🙂

I finally used a recipe! At the beginning of the month I made a goal to follow at least one recipe a week but this socca recipe is the first I completed.  The intention behind the recipe goal was to get me out of my cooking routine and try some new things.

Socca is a French pancake made from chickpea flour, water, salt, and olive oil.  Given the simplicity of the ingredients it is surprisingly delicious with the faintest hint of falafel and a rich nuttiness.

Socca

Original recipe from David Lebovitz can be found here

  • 1 cup chickpea flour*
  • 1 cup + 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • generous pinches of salt
  • sprinkle of cumin
*I used Bob’s Red Mill Garbanzo and Fava Bean Flour because that is what I found at the store.  It worked brilliantly but I can’t compare the flavor to plain garbanzo flour.

It’s funny to me that I am counting this as following a recipe because not only did I substitute the flour but it is so stinking simple.

Whisk everything but 1 tablespoon of the olive oil into the flour.

Let the thin batter sit for at least two hours.

I made this on Tuesday afternoon and it ended up be so ridiculously hot and sticky that evening that I couldn’t bare to turn on the oven.  The batter went into a jar and refrigerated until Wednesday night.

When you are ready to bake it off add the rest of your olive oil to an oven-safe pan (I used cast iron) and place in oven, turn on your broiler.  When the pan in hot, hot, hot, carefully pour in your batter.

And here’s where I failed to read the recipe details.  I only noticed after pouring the entire jar of batter into the pan and placing it in the oven that David’s recipe makes “about three pancakes”.   Whoops.  My dinner company and I loved the density and thickness that resulted but it did lack any resemblance to a cracker, pancake, or crepe.

After about 12 minutes on a middle rack my socca was golden brown and ready to be gobbled down.

Accompanied by a cucumber salad with garden herbs and lentil sprouts

and a side of garden hose 🙂

I now understand Ashley‘s obsession with socca, I’ve been thinking about it since the first bite and biding my time until I can whip up another.  SO GOOD.

Have a gorgeous, delicious Friday!

P.S  I pronounce it SOcca but have no clue whether this is correct, do you know?  I did a few internet searches but all I came up with were other folks as unsure as I am!

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April 19, 2011 · 5:45 pm

Matzo Maker

I was a lucky little girl.

I got to celebrate Hanukah and Christmas, Rosh Hashanah and Thanksgiving, Passover and Easter.

Always the food lover, most of my memories of these holidays are of the edible variety.  Potato laktes, pirogies, veggie stuffing, hard-boiled egg hunts, and matzo.

Lots of matzo.

Perhaps matzo is one of those things that tastes better because of the memories associated with it, it’s really just the simplest cracker possible.  In any case, I generally enjoy it and wasn’t going to let passover, er, pass-over without crunching through a few sheets.

But I really didn’t want to go the store when my noon matzo craving hit.  What’s a lazy girl to do but make her own!

Homemade Whole Wheat Matzo and Port Charoset

I followed a recipe!  Well, you know, mostly.

Adaped from Baked Bree.

  • 2 c. white whole wheat flour (mine was so not Kosher)
  • 1 c. water
  • 1.5 tsp. sea salt
Baked Bree describes that in order to keep things Kosher you must only take 18 minutes from start to finish to make these crackers.  While none of my ingredients were actually Kosher I thought it would be kind of fun to time myself anyway.
Pre-heat the oven to 450*
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment or cookie sheet liner
GO
After 5 minutes my dough was mixed and kneaded.
I used my new food scale* to measure out nine 2 ounce balls.
Time to roll.
I rolled these out as thin as I could to ensure crispness (and quick baking!).
While the crackers baked I got to work on the charoset.
  • 20 grams chopped walnuts
  • 1/4 cup port
  • 1 medium grated Golden Delicious apple
  • lots of cinnamon
Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
Most Charoset uses honey and red wine but I thought that Port would be a nice stand-in for both.
Confession: I didn’t make the 18 minute deadline.  I maybe could have if I’d skipped the pictures and the weighing.  It was kind of fun to move fast and at least attempt it though!
Kosher or not, it’s pretty tasty!
One of the traditional ways to eat Matzo and Charoset is the make an open faced sandwich.
Spread on some ground horseradish (I prefer the kind without mayo).
Top generously with Charoset.
Chow down.
I’m off to move some more dirt.
* Thanks for all the great feedback on food scales.  I ended up going with the cheap one from Bed, Bath, and Beyond (The Biggest Loser Taylor scale) because I had a coupon (of course, it’s B,B, and B) and because I am trying to avoid mail-ordering things (bigger carbon footprint + s &h fees).  It’s so fun to have a scale!

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