Zucchini Socca Bread with Caramelized Onions

My favorite way to use an abundance of zucchini.

I made this zucchini socca bread once for an office potluck once, the director of the company ate an obscene amount of this bread. When he asked who made it and what it was, he then found out it was vegan and gluten free. As someone who lived off of steak and bacon he was disappointed for his gluttonous behavior for something healthy.

I found this recipe many years ago on Healthful Pursuit by Beth Manos Brickey

Ingredients

• 1 c chickpea flour (besan flour)

• 1 c lukewarm water

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 crushed dried chili pepper

• 3 T fresh basil, chopped (or 1.5 T dried)

• 1 T fresh rosemary (or 1.5 tsp dried)

• 1 cup shredded zucchini

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced

• 4-6 T olive oil

Directions

1. Sift the chickpea flour into a medium-sized bowl, add in the salt and crushed chili pepper, then slowly pour in 1 cup of lukewarm water. Whisk well to eliminate lumps. Stir in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Cover, and let sit for at least 30 minutes, can sit overnight.

2. While the batter rests, make your caramelized onions. Coat the bottom of a large pan with olive oil (I use a cast iron skillet and then reuse it for baking the bread, if you don't have a cast iron skillet, that's cool, use what you do have). Heat the pan over a medium heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the onion slices and give them a good stir to coat them all with the oil, sprinkle them with salt. Spread the onions out evenly over the pan and let cook, stirring stirring every few minutes until they brown and small bits of char.

3. Once the batter has rested at least 30 minutes and the onions are close to being ready, add the shredded zucchini, basil, and rosemary to the socca batter, mix well to combine.

4. Remove onions from the pan and set aside. Heat oven to 500ºF and place the same cast iron skillet in oven while it preheats (you can also use whatever baking dish you have). Remove the skillet when the oven is to temperature, add about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil swirl around in the pan to get a nice even coating all the way around and up the sides a bit. Return to the oven for a couple of minutes to heat up the oil.

5. Once the oil is heated up, carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven and pour your batter in slowly. Bake 10-15 minutes (13 minutes is consistently perfect in my oven) until the socca is firm on top and the edges are starting to brown. Take the socca out of the oven and evenly spread the caramelized onions. Heat your broiler and place the socca back in the oven to broil for an additional 3 minutes, until the top gets some nicely browned spots. Cut it into wedges, and serve hot. Or let it cool, it's satisfying like cold pizza.

Contact Amber

---

About the Author:

Amber is a multi-passionate person. She is a NASM-CPT personal trainer and nutrition coach who works 1:1 with clients in online coaching - with a special flare for working with artists of all mediums - opera singers to cross stitchers., and all creative folks between. She is a working artist herself and her paintings and sculptures can be seen in her shared studio gallery space at the Northrup King Building in NE Minneapolis, MN, or online at Amber Art MN.