Socca with Chanterelle Ragout

Since a long time I associated chickpeas only with humus. But some days ago a friend told me about a pancake like treat made with chickpea flour called Socca.. and then I found a recipe in a cookbook with recipes from the south of France. In this recipe they make out of chickpeaflour somewhat of a crispy bread..they called it Soccer....have to try it soon. But to start I made those chickpea flour pancake called Socca that my friend was telling me about. As Fall starts I found some delicious looking Chanterelles at the Farmers Market and so I made Socca with Chanterelle Ragout. The chickpea flour gives a very definite taste to the pancakes and paired with the creamy Ragout resulted in a very fine, easy done dish.

Here to the recipe...

You need:

For Socca:

- 230 g chickpea flour

- 2 Egg whites

- 450 ml water

- 1 1/2 Tbsp. Olive oil

- 1/2 Tsp. salt

- Some more olive oil to bake the pancakes

For Chanterelle Ragout:

- 500g Chanterelles

- 1 small onion, cut in small cubes

- 150 g Crème fraiche

- 3 Tbsp Olive oil

- 1 bunch parsley, chopped

Salt and Pepper to season the Ragout.

To prepare:

1. Start by preparing the batter for Socca by mixing together the chickpea flour, water, 1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil and salt.

2. Whis the egg whites with a hand whisk until it forms soft peaks

3. Fold the egg whites gently into the batter

4. Reserve the pancake batter for 30 minutes

5. Meanwhile clean gently the chanterelles by brushing them, cut them in halves or quarters (depending on their size)

6. Heat up a small amount of olive oil in a non sticking pan and pour in some of your socca batter (so that it is about 5 mm thick). When you see some sort of bubbles appearing on your pancake surface, turn it to the other side and continue cooking the second side until slightly golden brown.

Proceed in the same way until you have used the whole batter. Reserve the pancakes in the to 50 C preheated oven

7. Heat up 3 Tbsp. olive oil in a pan. Sear the onion and than add the chanterelles, stir from time to time until they start to get soft

8. Add the crème fraiche to the Chanterelles and season with salt and pepper to your taste and fold in the chopped parsley (but do not cook anymore)

9. Place the Socca on a plate, cover with some Chanterelle Ragout and disperse some chopped parsley over all