Chickpea Cakes with Goat Cheese and Scallions

A while back I went to a fantastic little tapas place in L.A. -sorry I can't remember the name for the life of me, I'm looking into it! One of the dishes ordered was socca -which I found rather surprising since I was expecting (naively) Spanish food and this is French. For those of you who don't know, socca is a wonderful thin griddle cake made of chickpea flour and cooked over a fire which gives it a delicious hint of smokiness. I love it.

What came to our table was not socca. It was thick for starters, topped with, chives and drizzled with honey. After some research I discovered something called panisse. I think this is more similar to what I had. It is a thicker batter made of chickpea flour, fried and covered with a generous amount of sea salt and cracked black pepper. I love it, dare I say even more than socca? Actually I can't decide. Perhaps I'll have to host a taste off once the weather warms up enough that I can comfortably have a fire outside to properly make the socca and my guests can hold a glass of wine without their fingers freezing off.


I've made many riffs on this dish - I can't get enough. One of my favorite ways to have it is lightly flavored with cumin, and topped with goat cheese and green onions. It is pan sauteed until it is crispy outside and deliciously smooth and creamy inside. The cumin gives it just a touch of smokiness and the goat cheese offers the perfect amount of tang, getting deliciously soft and creamy sitting on top of the warm round pillow of savory chickpea goodness.



Chickpea Cakes with Fresh Goat Cheese and Scallions
makes 8 cakes

1 cup chickpea flour
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
canola oil or olive oil
goat cheese
scallions
salt and pepper

Bring water to a simmer and whisk in chickpea flour. With a wooden spoon stir for about 7 minutes. The mixture should thicken and bubble. Stir in salt and cumin and take it off the heat.

Heat a large pan over medium high heat. Add enough oil to generously coat the bottom of the pan. Heat the oil until it starts to shimmer. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, add chickpea mixture to the pan (you want the cake to sizzle when it hits the pan). Cook for a couple minutes until the cake starts to brown, flip it over and cook on the other side. Remove cakes to a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with sea salt. Put the cakes on a platter and top with goat cheese, scallions and fresh cracked black pepper to taste.

(Chickpea flour can be found at many grocery stores, health food stores and Whole Foods. It goes rancid relatively quickly. Keep it in the refrigerator and use within a couple of months.)

This is a great appetizer, or you can serve this with a salad for a nice lunch or light dinner. Just don't tell the French what I've done, I'm pretty sure they don't like people messing with their classics!
Warning: Once you start eating these, it is almost impossible to stop. I almost got into a wrestling match with my 4 year old over the last one. Luckily my maternal instincts kicked in and I let the adorable little bugger have it.