Super tasty courgette and chickpea flour batter tray bake. Scarpaccia gives the idea of a flappy shoe sole, perhaps something cheap and quick and easy. But actually it’s tender, tasty and a real treat!
The folded pieces go a treat in a wholemeal bap to take to the beach. A friend and I have the oh-so-lovely club with monthly-ish trips to beach. The water is always oh-so-lovely (even in January, ahem). She really does bring the lashings of ginger beer too.
In July-August, it’s definitely a courgette or two-a-day from the garden, so add this to your repertoire of glut-busting recipes.
About chickpea flour. It’s high in protein (22.4%), magnesium and folate (one of the essential B vitamins). Somehow it’s very ‘dry’ and takes a bit of time to ‘wet’ (there must be some technical terms for this). So, for digestibility, it’s a good idea to allow the batter to sit for a couple of hours. But that’s just as well because the sliced courgettes need a couple of hours to lose some of their wetness. Of course, it is gluten-free too. You can get small bag by Doves from posher supermarkets. But I recommend buying a large bag in the world foods section or supermarket. Here are a few more recipes from the VG repertoire: Lemon Polenta Cake, Frittata, Pakora and peamint dressing
So do your prep a couple of hours before.
Ingredients (for 6 pieces)
- 2 large-ish courgettes 800g – 1kg if you can grow a plant or two of your own, and want to plan ahead, go for the varieties Striato di Roma or Napoli (I get mine from Franchi seeds) which are dryer than the smooth dark green types (which are totally good), and can have an attractive ridged shape which looks pretty when cut into slices, like little suns. A mix of yellow and green and stripey would be lovely
- 2tsp fine table salt
- 120g chickpea flour also known as gram flour or besan
- c.200ml water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil minimum, really
- 1 – 2 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary to taste, can be more
- 1 tbsp polenta optional
- fresh ground rock or sea salt or flaky salt, and pepper for seasoning
Method
- make the batter by slowly incorporating the water with the flour gram can be very lumpy so once you have weighed it into your mixing bowl, whisk it with a balloon whisk to break up the lumps and get some air into it. Make a well in the middle and dribble in the water, using the whisk to draw flour in from the sides to the water to avoid clumps. You want a medium thick batter
- cover and leave for two hours
- slice your courgettes in fine slices it’s worth getting out the food processor or at least having a go with the slicer on the side of your grater rather than using a knife
- add the slices to a colander, sprinkle over the 2 tsp fine salt and separate and toss the slices so salt is evenly distributed. Place the colander on a plate, cover and leave for two hours
- put on the oven: 200C
- squeeze more water out of the courgette slices you can squeeze quite hard, but somehow try to retain the slicey form as much as possible
- mix the courgettes into the batter and add the rosemary and pepper save adding extra salt till the end when you’ve tasted the final thing
- prepare your baking tray (mine is 23 x 36): layer baking parchment with a good drizzle of olive oil. Scatter your polenta, if using, evenly over the tray
- spoon the courgette-gram batter mixture in big dollops over the olive oil/polenta layer then smooth the top and pat it down with the back of your spoon. Ideally you want it to be no more than 1cm thick, so the batter cooks, the ‘sole leather’ dries out to become crispy top, bottom and sides. Drizzle the other tablespoon of oil over the top
- cook for 30 minutes, or till golden and crispy, remove from the oven, and allow to cool for 5- 10 minutes. Use your pizza cutter to make slices
- Add to rolls with salt and pepper to taste I took the rock salt grinder to the beach