Socca with lamb-eggplant sauce

I mentioned recently that I received a copy of Bean by Bean for Christmas. This book has been on my wish list for a while and I was really excited to get it - I cook with beans a lot and am always looking for new recipe ideas. When I was flipping through the book and tagging recipes to try, I came across a recipe for socca (chickpea flour flatbread). It made me remember that I still had chickpea flour in the pantry and that I should make socca more often (I've only made it once before). The recipe in Bean by Bean was different than the one I used before so I decided to try it. This crust recipe is really phenomenal - the socca is deliciously crisp on the outside and tender in the middle. Don't try to cut down on the amount of oil - you need it to get those addictively crispy edges. The lamb-eggplant sauce is meaty and savory and goes very well with the chickpea flavor of the crust. If you're looking for interesting variations on traditional pizza, give this one a try! I'd love to hear other topping ideas that you come up with as well.

Socca with caramelized onions, potatoes, and parmesan

Often when my parents come to visit us in Boston, my mom will cook up some delicious Indian food for us to eat (I'm a good cook, but my skills don't even come close to my mom's when it comes to Indian food!). One of these times, she bought a big bag of chickpea flour to make bondas, which are fried balls of spiced mashed potatoes dipped in chickpea flour batter. Mmmmmm, I'm getting hungry just thinking about them...Anyway, when my mom left, I had no idea what to do with the rather large quantity of chickpea flour that remained. It's been sitting in my pantry ever since. But this past week I came across a couple recipes for socca (also called farinata), which is a pancake made of chickpea flour, often seasoned with rosemary. Even though socca is traditionally eaten without toppings, the recipes I saw added some veggie toppings to make the dish more like a complete meal. I immediately knew that I had to try something similar. Based on the ingredients that I had around, I decided to top my socca with caramelized red onions, thinly sliced roasted potatoes, and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Both Andrew and I loved the result - it made a lovely light meal with a green salad on the side, and the toppings worked really well with the rosemary and thyme seasonings that I used. I'm definitely going to be experimenting with more socca toppings in the future!

Do you have any suggestions for how to use chickpea flour?