Socca pizza with red bell pepper spread, olives and tahini mushrooms

Do you know what’s the number one sign of spring in Stockholm? When the open-air cafés open up and are filled with more people than you can count. From being hidden indoors for months, there’s all of a sudden possible to have your coffee outside and people are obviously loving that. I totally see why, even though I prefer our own coffee over bitter and burned café coffees. Am I the only one?

Anyway, it always makes me smile when I pass by one of those cafés, where people gather to drink coffee and gaze at the sun. It’s definitely spring season when that happens. Oh, and they are also sweeping the streets here now, removing all the gravel. And that my friends, is also a major sign of spring.

My love for simple, summer-y dishes continues and I’m saying bye-bye to comforting soups and stews and all the things I’ve been stuffing my face with during the winter. It’s still not warm enough to switch to the traditional salads-only-summer-diet. Well, it’s not a diet, but with the warm weather comes cravings for cold meals, hence salads are the go-to meal during summer.

So, we are stuck in the in-between season and I guess this is one of my favorite seasons of the year. You still want to eat warm food, but lighter and simpler dishes together with lots of big salad bowls. If you ask me, that’s the best! So, yesterday we were craving something easy, tasty and spring-like so we decided to make pizza. Not traditional pizza, but socca pizza!

Socca pizza is a pizza made with chickpea flour, garlic, and water. Basically. It’s super simple to make and it tastes amazing. First time I ate it was a few years ago when I experimented a lot to make the perfect gluten-free pizza. Somehow I forgot about it until about a year ago, when I started making it again. I’ve tried it with so many toppings – tomato sauce, pesto, hummus, beetroot hummus, green pea pesto and yesterday I made a red bell pepper spread which was absolutely amazing. Actually, I’ve used the bell pepper spread as pasta sauce like a billion times before, but now I thought – why not try it on pizza? Said and done – it was a success! Many of you asked for the recipe on Instagram yesterday, so here goes:

Socca pizza with red bell pepper spread, olives and tahini cooked mushrooms

serves 2

Pizza

2 1/2 dl chickpea flour
about 3 dl water
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp olive oil
salt & black pepper to taste

Bell pepper spread

3 medium-sized red bell peppers
1/2 dl sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp olive oil

Tahini mushrooms

4 champignons
2 tbsp tamari soy
about 2 1/2 dl water

Toppings

a handful of olives
fresh spinach leaves
sunflower seeds or walnuts

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 200°C.
2. Rinse and cut the bell peppers into smaller pieces, like 2×3 cm or so. Place on a parchment paper covered baking sheet and bake in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes, or until soft.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the pizza crust, by combining chickpea flour, water, garlic powder, olive oil, salt and black pepper in a baking bowl. Whisk together until smooth and set aside.
4. Brush the champignons and slice them thinly.
5. Add a cup or so of water to a small saucepan and add the tamari soy and heat it up. It should be warm but not boiling.
6. Add the champignons and let cook for about 10 minutes, or until soft and slightly browned.
7. When the bell peppers are done, place them on the countertop to cool down for a while.
8. Cover the baking sheet with a new parchment paper and pour a thin layer of batter onto it (about half the batter). Or, if you prefer to use an oven-proof skillet: preheat it for a few minutes in the oven first, then add a little oil to the skillet, pour a thin layer of batter into it and bake for about 20 minutes. The pizza crust is done when the edges are slightly browned.
9. Repeat with the remaining batter.
10. Place the baked bell peppers in a blender, add the sunflower seeds, garlic powder, and olive oil and mix until smooth.
11. When the pizza crusts are ready, spread a thick layer of the bell pepper spread on each pizza. Top with the tahini cooked mushrooms, olives, fresh spinach and sunflower seeds or walnuts.
12. Enjoy!