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…

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…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 time to make in advance and chill, 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.