Socca, farinata and other things you can do with a bag of chick pea flour

A few months ago I bought a bag of chick pea flour from the local health food store. I didn't have any firm plans for it, but it was going cheap due to being near its best-before date, and I can never resist a bargain.

Since then the bag of flour has become unequivocally out of date, and I have wondered what to do with it. It still seems to taste fine. So I have used it as a thickener in some curries, which works quite well. It lends a flavour of its own as well as helping to make a thick sauce (which is happily low-fat too). But it was going to take a lot of curries to get through a 1 kg bag of the stuff. Then I made a simple soup with it, based on a recipe on the packet. It tasted fine, but I've made better soups.

And then I came across socca - or is it farinata? It's a dish found in southern France, Italy, and various other parts of the world. Depending on thickness, it can be a pancake or a flatbread. Either way, it's made from chick pea flour, water and olive oil.

In the Ligurian version (farinata) it's supposed to be cooked in a wood oven, which gives it extra flavour, but I think you could compensate with a little smoked paprika or even cumin.

Apparently it's best to make it a few hours in advance so it starts to ferment, which gives a lighter texture. I made mine the night before and couldn't spot much fermentation, though I suspect my kitchen may not have been warm enough.

So...take 225g of chick pea flour, 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil, a good pinch of salt, and about 250 ml of water - you might need a little more or less but you want a medium-thick batter. Add chopped fresh rosemary, if available, and/or a tiny pinch of cumin or smoked paprika. Mix together until smooth. At this point you can leave it for a few hours or overnight, but I wouldn't worry too much if you don't have time.

Heat a heavy pan with a little olive oil, and pour in enough batter to cover. Whether you want it pancake-thin or more of a flatbread is up to you, so vary the thickness accordingly, but don't go too thick - less than 1cm.

Cook until bubbles start to appear, then pop into a hot oven for about 10 minutes (it depends on thickness) until it is set and the edges are browned. Cook a little longer if you like it more browned, or you could even put it under the grill to get slightly scorched patches on top.

Lots of recipes say you can eat it on its own, but I didn't find the flavour exciting enough. Instead I used it to scoop up a very simple stew of tinned tomatoes and chick peas flavoured with cumin, chilli and smoked paprika. (I know this is serving chick peas twice, but this was intentional - it works with hummus and falafel, after all.) And I also served it with some roasted peppers, aubergines and onions, which worked rather well. Mine was quite a thick version, so I cut it into wedges to serve. The leftovers tasted good the next day too, reheated under the grill.

So I'm finally glad I bought that bargain bag of chick pea flour.

If you're feeling inspired, chick pea flour is also called gram flour, it's gluten-free, and is often available in Asian food stores as well as health food shops.