Anatomy of a Summer Weeknight: CSA Edition
Last Thursday, at around 5:00, I text Andy: What's in the CSA bag today? We do a farm share through his office every other Thursday and I always try to plan dinner around it, even though it's usually a little of a lot, not a lot of a little. 5:01 His reply: One piece of squash, one bunch of broccoli, three spring onions, a tomato. 5:02 OK, I'll be out when you get home, but I'll get something started. 5:03 Grab any vegetable scraps I have in my fridge: A box of mushrooms, micro greens, herbs. 5:04 Scan pantry. Spy chickpea flour. Instantly recall someone telling me there is nothing better than a glass of rose with socca, the pancake-type flatbreads popular in the south of France, that have now become popular everywhere since they are gluten-free. It's hot. I can handle a chilled glass of rose tonight, even though it's Thursday. 5:10 Google "socca." Delighted to discover that the recipe is of the very easy-to-memorize "equal parts flour to water" variety. Mix up a bowl of batter in under 30 seconds. 5:20 Make a yogurt sauce: whisk together plain yogurt, harissa, za'atar, olive oil, lemon, garlic. Take this pic and send to Andy...
. ...with the message your job is to roast or cook the vegetables when you get home. I refrigerate the sauce and cover the batter with a dish towel. 5:30 Get in car, shepherd kid to activity. 6:00 Catch up on The Daily while waiting for kid activity to finish. 7:30 Home. Pour glass of rose. Fry up socca, top with roast vegetables, drizzle with sauce. 7:45 Dinner.
Socca with Scraps and Sauce Regarding the besan: I used Swad brand purchased at an Indian grocer, but you can find a bag in the Bob's Red Mill section of most supermarkets. This made about six medium-size pancakes.
Socca 1 1/2 cups besan, aka gram, chickpea flour or garbanzo bean flour 1 1/2 cups water 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon olive oil (plus more for frying)
Mix all ingredients together and let rest for 30 minutes. (This helps with the interior creaminess factor.) Set a cast iron pan over medium-high and add a tablespoon of olive oil right before you are ready to fry your socca.
Spoon enough batter to make a 6- to 8-inch round pancake. The batter will be thin, almost crepe-like. Flip when underside is cooked and crispy around the edges, about 2 minutes. Remove to a foil-covered plate and repeat with remaining batter. When ready to serve, top with vegetables and drizzle with sauce. (Instructions below.)
Scraps (Toppings) Roast any combination of chopped/sliced vegetable scraps the way you normally do. (I toss with olive oil and salt, then roast at 400°F for 15 minutes) You want about 1 1/2 cups vegetables per person. I would argue that mushrooms are the most important to include here because of their substance and meatiness: broccoli onions mushrooms peppers carrots zucchini
Sauce (Yogurt-Harissa) 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup plain full-fat or low fat yogurt 2 teaspoons za’atar or sumac (available in better supermarkets or Amazon) 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 large garlic clove, pushed through a press or minced 1/2 teaspoon harissa 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together all ingredients. If you have the time and inclination to make this in a food processor (or, if by hand, an hour or so in advance) by all means do. It will allow the flavors to meld.
I topped with micro greens and cilantro, and served with a single sliced tomato (drizzled with olive oil, topped with sea salt), which was about three single-sliced tomatoes too few. (We just had extra dessert.) A fresh green salad would've been lovely as well.
Related: You can find a lot more real-life, easy dinner ideas in my "Anatomy of a Weeknight" series.