Savory Italian-Style Socca Pancakes

I’ve had an unopened bag of chickpea flour in my pantry for 4 months.

That’s 4 months too long.

After seeing socca on Anna and Serena’s blogs recently, it was about time that I try out socca pancakes. These were so flavorful, and so easy, too. It really was just like making any old pancakes. I might have burned myself trying to pick the fried batter off the bottom of the pan; it was worth it. When(not if) I make this again, I’d use a jarred marinara sauce, but since I didn’t have any I threw that together, too, and threw in the recipe. Top with a fried egg for something truly amazing. 

Savory Italian-Style Socca Pancakes

Ingredients(Makes 1 serving):

For the pancakes,

• 1/2 cup chickpea flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning
• olive oil for cooking

For the sauce*,

• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes, mostly drained of water
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

*You could also just use 1/2 cup of your favorite store-bought marinara sauce.

To make the pancakes, whisk together the flour, water, salt, and herb seasoning until there are no clumps in the batter.

Heat the oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add half of the batter to the pan to cook. Once the sides have darkened and the bottom has cooked, flip the pancake once to cook the top batter. Move to a plate and cook the other half of the batter.

To make the sauce, mix together all of the ingredients.

Assemble by spreading half of the sauce over the first pancake and layering it with the second. Scoop remaining sauce generously over the top and season to taste.

Socca to me.

I’ve said that about 60 times by now. I still think it’s funny.