SC - SC: Panisses and other flat breads

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Adamantius wrote:
>lilinah at grin.net wrote:
>> panisses are far from gourmet
>> (but i still have a hankering for them)
>
>I dunno, we sold them at Le Colombe d'Or when I worked there, New York
>Times four stars, for a while. Socca too. Ooh la la!

Gee, Adamantius, how'd you serve them?

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I just found the cookbook i bought when i lived in France in 1973!

Leaving out the cedilles and accents:
"La Veritable Cuisine Provencale et Nicoise" by Jean-Noel Escudier, (c)
1964, Les Editions Provencia, Toulon.

And it has a recipe for panisses!

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(again leaving out the accents)

Evidemment, c'est une preparation rustique mai que l'on aurait tort de
dedaigner. C'est, en tous cas, un plat local des plus nourrissants:

Faites une bouillie avec de la farine de mais ou de pois chiches en
ajoutant a l'eau deux a trois cuillerees d'huile. Bien remuer pour eviter
les frumeaux (dans nos campagnes, on se servait, pour remuer, a la place de
la cuiller en bois, d'une branche de bois de laurier). Faits epaissir
lentement.

Versez ensuite cette bouillie dans de petits moules ou des soucoupes
legerement huillees. Ou bien etalez-la sur un marbre ou sur une planche.
Laissez refroidir.

Demoulez ou coupez en rondelles a l'aide d'un verre ou d'une tasse et
jettez les panisses dans la friture tres chaude. Lorsqu'elles sont bien
dorees, egouttez et servez soit saupoudrees de sel, soit de sucre (s'il
s'agit de les servir comme dessert; on peut, dans ce cas, les recouvrir
d'une legere couche de confiture).

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My poor translation:

Obviously it is a rustic preparation, but which one would be wrong to
disdain. It is, in any case, a local dish most nourishing.

Make a porridge with maize flour or chick pea flour, adding to the water
two or three spoonfuls of oil. Stir well to eliminate lumps (in our
countryside, one uses, to stir, in place of a wooden spoon, a branch from
the bay tree). Thicken slowly.

Then turn this porridge into lightly oiled little moulds or saucers. Or
spread on a marble slab or a [cutting] board. Let cool.

Unmould or cut in rounds with the aid of a glass or a teacup and drop the
panisses in very hot cooking oil. When they are well browned/golden, drain
and serve either sprinkled with salt, or with sugar (if you're serving them
as dessert; one can, in this case, cover them with a light layer of jam).

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In other words, it's kinda like fried corn meal mush or polenta or
mamiliga, but of chick pea flour (well, i only ever saw panisses made of
chick pea flour in Cannes)

This cookbook was considered the classic of Provencale cuisine when i lived
there. The recipes in it are all like this, rarely any quantities or
temperatures or times (gee, just like the recipes in the Indonesian
cookbooks i got when i lived there, or, well, medieval recipes).

Anahita


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