Chickpea Socca with Greens and White Bean Purée

Yes, I made more socca stacks! This time the socca pieces were sandwiched between layers of tomato sauce, sautéed kale, white bean purée and caramelized leeks. (I love caramelized leeks!) This recipe is from You Won't Believe it's Vegan! by Lacey Sher and Gail Doherty.

Lacy Sher and Gail Doherty used to own the restaurant Down to Earth in Red Bank, NJ. Red Bank is about an hour south of us on the NJ Parkway. Dennis and I used to drive down there every once in a while just to eat there because the food was so amazingly delicious. We were hearbroken when the restaurant closed and we could no longer get our favorite vegan dishes. I stumbled across this book in the bookstore by chance, and after flipping through it and recognizing the dish names, I quickly realized that it was a cookbook full of Down to Earth's recipes. I almost started crying right there in the bookstore when I realized that I could once again have my favorite Down to Earth dishes. But of course, I would have to cook them myself.

This socca dish isn't difficult, but each layer needs to be cooked in it's own dish or pan, so I did make quite a mess. It was so delicious that I was worth it though. Dennis loved it so much that he said "I feel sorry for people who are not me" !

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Peppers, Onions and Tomatoes with Socca

I don't really have a name for this dish, although it is very chili-like. It's something I make regularly because it's simple and comforting. I sautée peppers of all colors and kinds (sweet and hot) with some chopped onion, and then add a can of chopped tomatoes and a can of kidney beans and let it simmer for a while. I usually serve this with grilled polenta, but corn's off the menu for now. I thought about making some rice to go with it, but then I remembered the socca I made recently. Socca is a flat bread made with chickpea flour and is reminiscent of polenta. So I quickly cooked up some socca in the oven and grilled it in a grill pan on the stove top. Socca is delicious and easy to make, so I'm sure I'll be making it often.


Chickpea Socca
1 cup chickpea flour
2 cups water
salt
pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat ovent to 450 degrees and oil a large baking pan.
Wisk flour, water, salt and pepper together. Wisk in olive oil.
Pour socca mixture into pan and bake for approximately 20 minutes, until socca is firm.

Socca is versitle and can be used to make lasagne like stacks. Try different fillings, including tomato sauce, sautéed veggies, and steamed leafy greens. Also try experiment with different spices in the socca mixture before baking.

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A Cold Winter's Night

I'm not exactly sure what prompted me to make such a huge dinner, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the bitter cold we're experiencing here in the North East. The vegetables took a while to chop, but the meal wasn't difficult to prepare at all. Dinner consisted of roasted butternut squash, roasted Brussels sprouts, sautéed broccoli with mushrooms and onions and chickpea croquettes.

Brussels sprouts used to be one of the few veggies I disliked, but I discovered that roasting them makes them delicious. I used to roast them with slivered almonds, but they're off the menu now and that's okay, because they're good on their own. I used to roast squash with lots of garlic, black pepper and salt, but since I can't do that again for a while, I used sea salt and red pepper flakes. Red pepper gives the food a good flavor and is a nice substitute for black.

The chickpea croquettes recipe was in the October issue of Vegetarian Times. I've made several types of chickpea patties before, and I think this recipe is by far the best. Dennis said that they were so good "they should be served in restaurants"! The croquettes are held together with chickpea flour, which acts as a nice binder. I used chickpea flour earlier in the week in Wild Mushroom Socca, and it's quickly becoming my favorite to cook with. I'm going to have to look for more recipes that use it.

This was the perfect hot meal for a cold winter's night!

Wild Mushroom Socca

I woke up with tummy troubles this morning. It was as if I ate wheat encrusted soy cakes served on a corn tortilla. I'm not sure what caused it. Was it the spelt pasta I ate for dinner yesterday? The gluten free pancakes? All of that hummus I had at my friend's birthday party last night?

So I decided to stay away from most floury kinds of food today. Except chickpea flour. Chickpea flour is good. I made Wild Mushroom Socca Stacks from the last issue of Vegetarian Times for dinner tonight. Socca is a flat bread made from chickpea flour and is slightly reminiscent of polenta.

I doubled the recipe so that I could have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I'm not sure if I should have used a larger pan for the socca or not, but I had to cook it for close to half an hour before it firmed up nicely. I got lazy and used premade sauce instead of making my own. I also used a lot less onion than the recipe called for, which I always do because I don't like when my food is too oniony. I served the socca stacks on a bed of sautéed kale. Not only do sautéed greens make for a pretty presenation, they are crammed full of essential nutrients. Leafy greens are a good source of dietary fiber, protein, calcium, folate, iron, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus, and vitamins A, C, E and K. Green vegetables are the foods that most missing from modern diets.

This recipe was pretty easy to make and was really tasty. Dennis said it was like "restaurant food" and went back for seconds. I'm already looking forward to lunchtime tomorrow so I can have another serving. Yum!