My kind of socca

One regional specialty in the Côte d'Azur is socca, a chickpea crepe cooked on a cast iron plate in a wood fired oven and served with ample lashings of black pepper. A definite winner for my tastebuds. I discovered this whilst aimlessly wandering around the Nice market after the trains went on strike and I was stranded there. Sometimes I wonder how much of my life I spend wandering around markets.. not enough.

The whole process from batter to mouth takes about 3 minutes.

1. Slop + Insert



2. Check



3. Remove



4. Give it to me now



5. Scrumptioussssssss. Just diviiine.



The final product is a texture sensation, crispy golden top and a soft crepe underbelly. Socca is cooked so quickly that you end up with a creamy chickpea paste middle where the batter hasn't cooked fully. Kind of like hummus except minus the garlic.


6. Rival 'gypsy slash Liza Minelli' socca seller.



During my hunt for work in Antibes I ended up moving into an apartment with 3 lovely ladies, Lou, Ginny and Sarah. It was so ahhh mazing to be able to cook again, especially with such good produce in the area. A plus of Antibes being a yachty town = loads of places for provisions (even AZN stuffs. CHILLI! GALANGAL! GRASS JELLY!** see below).



Check out the giant loquats ! I am so happy to be surrounded by people who value loquats, a highly highly underrated fruit in Aus. Seriously why don't more people eat them, the trees are everywhere in Melbourne ! One of natures hardiest fruit producers. Rant over.



I've always thought that risotto was pretty lame, one of those things boys first learn to make when they move out of home and want to 'impress'. However my flatmate Sarah showed me the light with a lovely porcini mushroom recipe. My first risotto ! I added in fresh shelled peas, lemon zest, a load of parsley and served it with creme fraiche. A proud moment.




Still completely infatuated with radicchio - I know I have mentioned it previously, but it is so sweet in EU. Tossed with mâche (lambs lettuce) and ricotta with a squeeze of lemon juice. Mâche is probably my new favourite salad green, it has such a lovely delicate flavour.



One thing the French really suck at is coffee. I don't understand. So close to Italy and somehow things go horrendously wrong. The best part about getting coffee was watching the old French men in this man-club cafe.





**I attempted to warm my housemates to the delicacy that is GRASS JELLY ! Ha, definitely NOT a winner.



Maybe it was the notion of eating black unsweetened jelly from a can. One day when their palates develop my level of maturity they might be lucky enough to appreciate. Ha ha!