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.
