A springy, restaurant-feeling vegetarian dish that’s made for the Season Cast Iron Wide Reversible Griddle: socca (a chickpea flatbread/pancake) on the smooth side, and properly grill-marked asparagus + spring onions on the ridged side. Finished with a glossy rhubarb agrodolce (sweet-sour Italian-style glaze) spiked with harissa and a wild garlic cream.
UK Spring heroes: asparagus, wild garlic, spring onions, radishes, rhubarb.
Serves: 2-3
Time: ~40 minutes (plus optional 20 min batter rest)
Ingredients
Socca
- 160g chickpea flour (gram flour)
- ½ tsp fine salt
- ½ tsp ground cumin (optional but great)
- 220ml water
- 2½ tbsp olive oil (plus more for the griddle)
Charred spring veg
- 1 bunch asparagus, woody ends snapped off
- 4 spring onions, left whole
- Salt, olive oil
Wild garlic whip
- 150g ricotta or thick Greek yoghurt (or labneh)
- 1 big handful wild garlic leaves, finely sliced (or blitzed)
- Zest ½ lemon + a squeeze of juice
- Pinch salt
- Optional: 1 tbsp grated hard cheese (pecorino/parmesan)
Rhubarb-harissa agrodolce
- 200g rhubarb, cut into 2cm chunks
- 2 tbsp honey (or maple)
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar (or sherry vinegar)
- 1-2 tsp rose harissa (or regular harissa)
- Pinch salt
- 2 tbsp water
Finish
- Radishes, thinly sliced
- Handful rocket/watercress
- Toasted sesame (optional)
Method
1) Make the socca batter (2 min + rest optional)
Whisk chickpea flour + salt (+ cumin). Whisk in water until smooth, then whisk in olive oil.
Rest 20 minutes if you can (better texture), but it works immediately.
2) Rhubarb agrodolce (8-10 min)
In a small pan: rhubarb + honey + vinegar + harissa + salt + water.
Simmer until rhubarb is just collapsing but not total jam. You want glossy chunks and syrup. Taste: sweet-sour with a warm kick.
3) Wild garlic whip (2 min)
Mix ricotta/yoghurt with wild garlic, lemon zest/juice, salt (and cheese if using). Keep cold.
4) Heat the griddle properly
Medium-high for a few minutes until hot. Lightly oil both sides.
5) Ridged side: char the veg (8 min)
Toss asparagus + spring onions with oil + salt.
Grill on ridges, turning, until deeply marked and just tender.
6) Smooth side: cook socca (6-8 min total)
Add a generous slick of oil to the smooth side.
Pour batter to make two 18-20cm rounds (or one big one if you’re brave).
Cook 3-4 min until the underside is deeply golden and edges crisp, flip, cook 2-3 min more.
Chef move: as soon as you flip, brush the cooked side with a touch of olive oil for extra lacquer.