INGREDIENTS
Socca
300g chickpea flour
500ml water
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
50ml olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper, plus additional sea salt and
olive oil for serving
Home dried herbs
6 stems flat parsley
2 sprigs rosemary
2 sprigs oregano
3 sprigs thyme
Babaganoush
3 eggplants
100ml tahini
150ml Japanese mayonnaise
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of ground cumin (optional)
METHOD
Dried Herbs
- Lay fresh herbs out on a baking tray. Select special applications. Select drying at 85˚C and the duration of
- 3 hours. When the herbs are dried, pull from stems, mix together and store in an airtight container.
Socca
- Pre-heat Fan Grill on 240˚C, with baking and roasting rack on shelf position 5.
- Combine all dry ingredients with 1½ tablespoons of olive oil and water and mix well. Cover and rest the batter for at least 2 hours, at room temperature.
- Place 27cm round baking tray in the oven for 5 minutes until very hot. Remove from the oven and with some of the remaining oil, grease the pan well.
- Pour ½ cup of batter into the hot pan to cover the base evenly.
- Return the hot tray to the oven. Grill the socca until firm and beginning to blister and slightly burn, this should take approximately 3 minutes.
Babaganoush
- Pre-heat on Fan Grill 200˚C.
- Place the eggplants on the grilling and roasting insert in the multi-purpose tray, on shelf position 4, turning every 3 minutes until cooked through and soft. The eggplant will lose its shape when cooked.
- When cooked, remove from the oven and place in a sieve over a bowl to drain and cool.
- Peel the eggplants and remove the stalk; discard both.
- Place the flesh back in the sieve to continue draining, press out excess moisture. Transfer the drained flesh to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth; slowly add the tahini and the mayonnaise whilst blending. Season with lemon juice, salt and white pepper.
To serve
- Slide the cooked socca onto a cutting board, slice into wedges.
- Dot with babaganoush and sprinkle with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
- Top with some freshly dried herbs.
- Repeat with remaining batter, adding more olive oil to the pan before pouring in the batter each time.
APPLIANCE / FUNCTION
Shannon Bennett
In 2011, acclaimed Australian chef Shannon Bennett undertook the greatest challenge of his life – moving his award winning Vue de monde restaurant to the dramatic new location on the 55th floor of Melbourne’s iconic Rialto building. From the beginning, Shannon’s goal has been to make Vue de monde Australia’s most sustainable restaurant. More than 50 cutting-edge technologies are being utilised, from an E-water system to ‘cold kitchen technology’ (no exposed flames or gas)
