Zucchini Socca with Caramelized Onions

August 23, 2012 by Leanne Vogel August 15, 2014

Grain-free flat bread with caramelized onions

Ingredients

• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (you can use less if you don’t like spicy food)
• 3 tablespoons fresh basil, roughly chopped
• 1 cup (tightly packed), shredded zucchini (make sure to squeeze out all of the excess moisture)
• 4 to 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, optional

Instructions

1. Sift the chickpea flour into a medium-sized bowl, add in the salt and red pepper flakes, then slowly pour in 1 cup of lukewarm water. Whisk well to eliminate lumps. Stir in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Cover, and let sit while oven heats, I like to leave it sit a few hours (you can leave it as long as 12 hours). Batter should be somewhat thin, much like a crepe batter or heavy cream.
2. While the batter rests, make your caramelized onions. Coat the bottom of a large pan with olive oil, or a mixture of olive oil and butter, if you wish. Heat the pan over a medium high heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the onion slices and give them a good stir to coat them all with the oil, sprinkle them with salt. Spread the onions out evenly over the pan and let cook, stirring occasionally. You may want to drop the heat to keep them from drying out. Let them cook another 20-30 minutes, stirring every few minutes, while your batter rests and even while the socca is cooking, you can literally cook them up until you need them.
3. Once the batter has rested at least 30 minutes and the onions are close to being ready, add the shredded zucchini and fresh basil to the socca batter, mix well to combine.
4. Heat oven to 500ºF and place a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet in oven while it preheats (you can also use a nonstick 12-inch pizza pan or 2 cake pans, etc). Remove the skillet when the oven is to temperature, add about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil swirl around in the pan to get a nice even coating all the way around and up the sides a bit. Return to pans the oven for a couple of minutes to heat up the oil.
5. Once the oil is heated up, carefully remove the hot pan from the oven and pour your batter in slowly. Bake 10-15 minutes until the socca is firm and the edges are set. Heat your broiler to a medium-high heat, evenly distribute the caramelized onions over the surface of the socca. Broil for an additional 3-5 minutes, until the top gets some nicely browned spots. Cut it into wedges, and serve hot.

Notes

This is great as a meal or as an appetizer. If your pancake is a little thinner because you used a larger pan or maybe it’s breaking apart, no worries at all, this snack is meant to be rustic and eaten with your fingers. Enjoy.

Nutrition Information Per Serving