Comments on: Soccas South American Style

By: Gluten-Free Olive Herb Focaccia Flatbread Recipe | Book of Yum

Gluten-Free Olive Herb Focaccia Flatbread Recipe | Book of Yum — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:04:18 +0000

[...] whole grain bread recipes? Try Adeena’s Gluten-Free Rosemary Teff Dinner Roll Recipe or my South American Socca Recipe or this Apple Onion Fetta Socca Recipe Or my Allergen-free Buckwheat Crepe [...]

By: Book of Yum - Blog

Book of Yum - Blog — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 09:53:28 +0000

[...] When I read that the gluten free menu swap ingredient of the week was apple, I started considering possibilities. Apples are one of our favorite snacks, whether they be crisp organic fuji apples eaten fresh with a slice of havarti, or slow baked apples seasoned with cinnamon and sugar in pie, or baked in Chebe turnovers. But somehow, I was in the mood for a savory apple treat. And, what is more savory than the savory, delicious French socca chickpea crepe? I first discovered socca in Japan, and then furthered my acquaintance with them in the short-lived Berkeley Socca Oven. When Socca Oven closed their doors, those of us at CeliacBayArea Yahoo group were determined to keep socca on the menu in our own homes. But, it was ByTheBay’s post of an especially delicious socca recipe that ensured the socca’s regular place in my house. In addition to my old standby topping of hummus, olives and fresh veggies, I developed a socca with a south american spicy bean topping. Now, here’s a fresh new take on the socca, this time garnished with tangy, delightful goats cheese, sweet apples, and crunchy pecans. How do you like your socca? [...]

By: Book of Yum - Blog

Book of Yum - Blog — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:56:19 +0000

[...] I made French Socca, a French Chickpea Crepe Flatbread the other night for dinner, and topped it with a caramelized onion, artichoke heart, tomato, and calamata olive mixture. It was delicious, but I ended up with half of a can of artichoke hearts left over. I wasn’t sure what to do with them until I caught sight of the thriving basil plant on my patio. How about an artichoke heart, basil pesto using something other than pine nuts… something like… pecans? And so a recipe was born. I wanted something light and summery, with less calories than the typical pesto, so cutting out the cheese and limiting the oil made sense. I used two tablespoons of sweet, fruity, locally produced olive oil and somehow that was just enough. Even DH, who isn’t ordinarily a huge fan of pesto, enjoyed this light, summery dish. I paired it with some chilled Celestial Seasonings Tea, A variation onSouthern Fried Tofu, and leftover chilled Roasted Chili Garlic Broccoli. To me, nothing says summer like the sweet, piquant flavor of basil pesto. It would be perfect paired with a classic fresh mozzarella, tomato, and basil leaf salad. If you thought pesto was off limits due to dairy intolerance or calorie concerns, think again! Pesto can be as light and allergen friendly as you like. [...]

By: Book of Yum - Blog

Book of Yum - Blog — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:09:27 +0000

[...] In the search for Gluten Free Dining, you occasionally find gluten free Utopias in the most unexpected places. Thinking about gluten free dining always reminds me of two of the first restaurants I really dared to eat out in as a college student- Old Wives’ Tales in Portland Oregon, and the now dearly departed Creative Vegetarian Cafe in Boulder, Colorado. Although these two latter restaurants were not entirely gluten free, they were very ingredient conscious and offered many safe, delicious options that I was incredibly grateful for. They also were vegetarian or flexitarian (Old Wives’ Tales) which was ideal for me, when many gluten free restaurants or menu items overcompensate by the lack of gluten with hunks of meat or chicken that just doesn’t do it for me. But we’ve come a long way since my college days, baby. Now, I don’t have to fantasize about somewhere where I can eat EVERY SINGLE thing on the menu- there are actually specialty cafes and restaurants that offer 100% gluten free menus with both savory and sweet items. Finding Deby’s gluten free cafe in Denver, Colorado thrilled me. (And she now has branches in Erie and Wyoming!) Finding not one but two gluten free cafes in Seattle, Davinchi Cafe and Bakery and Sunny Valley Wheat Free also thrilled me. And of course I was ecstatic about The Farmer’s Kitchen Cafe in Davis, California. But imagine my surprise when I found that there was a restaurant with many, many gluten free options that wasn’t even marketed as a gluten free restaurant.. I first heard about this unique, Berkeley native raw foods vegan restaurant called Cafe Gratitude through a CeliacBayArea message board on Yahoo, and was thrilled to find that only a few items contained any gluten in the form of soy sauce. I immediately dragged a skeptical DH over to Berkeley and we enjoyed Chickpea Soccas at the nearby Socca Oven (which has since gone out of business, but which provided much inspiration to us gluten free folks to make our own delicious soccas) and then had a delightful vegan dessert at Cafe Gratitude. DH had their “key lime pie”- um, i mean “I AM AWAKENING key lime pie - Creamy key lime custard with coconut meringue in a macadamia crust,” and I ordered that always off limits Italian tease, tiramisu, also known on the menu as “I AM ADORING live tiramisu - Raw cacao and almond tiramisu cake with sweet cashew cream and raw chocolate espresso filling.” It was good, oh yes, it was good. I don’t like lime pie, but if I had, i’m sure I would have adored DH’s dessert. And I definitely adore cashew cream and raw chocolate espresso filling. Mmmmm… Who needs those nasty gluten cookies, anyway? We also had an “I AM LOVED latte with steamed almond milk” which was cold pressed- it was an experience, but I am very particular about my coffee and think nothing beats a hot steamer wand and “Real” espresso. Some time back, there was a slight disturbance in the gluten free community when some members went to Cafe Gratitude, were mistakenly informed some dishes were gluten free, and experienced a “glutening”- I.e. got a bit sick after eating there. Concerned members contacted the owners of Cafe Gratitude. Here’s the coolest part- the owners actually decided to make the whole menu completely gluten free so nothing like that would ever happen again. Given the muted presence of gluten in their menu anyway, it mostly involved switching soy sauce brands- and suddenly, a good largely gluten free restaurant became a FABULOUS ENTIRELY GLUTEN FREE dining establishment. So take that, all you evil corporate restaurants that refuse to serve me and my GF friends gluten free anything- I don’t need you after all, because locally owned establishments are willing to go to a little effort on our behalf. pfffft. One small step for the gluten free, one giant leap for mankind- oops, am I making too big a deal of this? I don’t care, I was thrilled. But despite all the happy dancing going on over here at my home in Mountain View, I’m ashamed to say we didn’t manage to make it all the way over to Berkeley to partake in the Gluten free delights UNTIL this weekend, when I decided to go on a three part, gluten free delights QUEST- facilitated by the fact that I successfully (fingers crossed) finished the bulk of my coursework in my third year of my PhD program. Stop one was Cafe Gratitude. [...]

By: Slacker Mom

Slacker Mom — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 21:47:55 +0000

I am so curious to try this..it looks wonderful. Bean flour..here I come!

By: Ellen

Ellen — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 14:42:53 +0000

Gradually, I’ve moved closer to making glutenfreebythebay’s recipe for socca. Now, with your reminder, it will zoom to the top of my list. Thanks for the reminder! It looks scrumptious!

By: Isaiah

Isaiah — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 08:30:26 +0000

Oh, this looks just delicious! Great job with coming up with more variety for the socca. I am moving on 4/29 and trying to get rid of all my dried goods so I don’t have to ship them… I have some garbanzo flour I need to use up and some black beans soaking as we speak. So this just might become dinner one of these nights.