Recipes
Socca with babaganoush
3 hours Preparation time
25 minutes Cooking time
6 Servings Serves
Ingredients
Home dried herbs
6 parsley stems
2 rosemary sprigs
2 oregano sprigs
3 thyme sprigs
Socca
300 g chickpea flour
500 ml (2 cups) water
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp olive oil, plus more for cooking
Salt flakes and pepper, to taste
Babaganoush
3 eggplants
100 ml tahini
150 ml Japanese mayonnaise
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of ground cumin (optional)
Method
Dried Herbs
- Lay fresh herbs out on a baking tray. Select special applications. Select drying at 85˚C and the duration of 3 hours.
- When the herbs are dried, pull from stems, mix together and store in an airtight container.
Socca
- Combine all dry ingredients with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and water and mix well. Cover and rest the batter for at least 2 hours, at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven on Fan Grill at 240˚C, with a rack on shelf level 5.
- Place 27 cm round baking tray on the rack for 5 minutes until very hot. Remove from the oven and drizzle the pan with a little olive oil.
- Pour ½ cup of batter into the hot pan to cover the base evenly.
- Return the hot tray to the oven. Grill the socca until firm and beginning to blister and slightly burn, this should take approximately 3 minutes.
- Repeat with remaining batter (makes 6).
Babaganoush
- Pre-heat on Fan Grill 200˚C.
- Place the eggplants on the grilling and roasting insert in the universal tray, on shelf position 4, turning every 3 minutes until cooked through and soft. The eggplant will lose its shape when cooked.
- When cooked, remove from the oven and place in a sieve over a bowl to drain and cool.
- Peel the eggplants and remove the stalk; discard both.
- Place the flesh back in the sieve to continue draining, press out excess moisture. Transfer the drained flesh to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth; slowly add the tahini and the mayonnaise whilst blending. Season with lemon juice, salt and white pepper.
To serve
- Slide the cooked socca onto a cutting board, slice into wedges.
- Dot with babaganoush and sprinkle with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
- Top with some freshly dried herbs.
- Repeat with remaining batter, adding more olive oil to the pan before pouring in the batter each time.
Applicance Functions
Shannon Bennett
Shannon Bennett is a Melbourne-born chef, restaurateur, television personality and cookbook author. Best known as the founder and former owner of Vue de monde (Vue Group), which he sold in 2017, Bennett now resides in Byron Bay where he founded The Belongil — a multi-venue dining destination comprising Belongil Bistro, fine dining restaurant Feu, The Belongil Kiosk, and the hidden members’ bar Blind Tiger. Feu was recognised in Condé Nast’s Hot 50 as one of the world’s top new restaurants. Beyond hospitality, Bennett is passionate about the intersection of technology and dining, and has founded several successful ventures including Culinary Wonderland and OntheMonee.