Socca with Lamb & Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce

Have you heard of Socca?  I hadn't until maybe last year when I saw it on Fitnessista's blog.  It's basically a pancake made from chickpea flour, and is a popular street food in the south of France.  The recipe I had seen on blogs before was simply equal parts chickpea flour and water.  Didn't sound too exciting but I could see how it would make a great vessel for other foods and flavors.

I had sort of forgotten about Socca since then, but after seeing a beautiful version in my new cookbook, Plenty, I knew it wouldn't be long before I made it.  Plus I've had a bag of chickpea flour in the pantry for a while now anyways so there was really no excuse.

The recipe in the cookbook calls for the Socca to be topped with caramelized onions and oven roasted tomatoes.  I still want to try this version, but the version I wanted to make involved an idea in my head with ground lamb and a refreshing yogurt cucumber sauce.

I used the Socca recipe from Plenty, which had whipped egg whites in the batter along with the chickpea flour and water.  I imagine these are a bit more fluffy than the regular kind without egg whites.

For the toppings, I just sautéed some ground lamb, drained some of the excess fat, and seasoned the meat with salt, cumin, and fresh lemon juice.

For the cucumber-yogurt sauce I combined plain yogurt, chopped cucumber, red onion, fresh dill, fresh parsley, and lemon and let it sit in the fridge while I made the rest of the meal.

Socca
from Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi

• 1 3/4 cups Chickpea Flour
• 2 cups Water
• 1.5 T olive oil
• 2 egg whites
• 3/4 tsp salt
• pepper

Whisk together chickpea flour, water, oil, salt and pepper until smooth.  In another bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks.  Fold egg whites into chickpea batter.

Heat oven to 325.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silpats.  Use a non-stick frying pan with a diameter of about 6” at the bottom.  Brush with olive oil.  Heat to med-high heat, then add in 1/4 of the socca batter.  Just like a regular pancake, bubbles will start to appear on the surface after about 2 minutes.  Use a spatula to loosen around the edges and then flip!  Cook for 1 more minute and transfer to baking sheet.  After all 4 pancakes are cooked, bake for 5 minutes. 

I still need a little practice flipping a big pancake like that, but at least there were no casualties.

 

Cucumber Yogurt Topping

All quantities are approximate, adjust to your liking!

• 1 cup chopped cucumber
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 6oz container of plain yogurt
• 1 T finely chopped dill
• 1 T finely chopped parsley
• juice from 1/4 lemon
• salt and pepper
  

Mix all together.  Can be made ahead of time.  Chill until ready to use.

 

Lamb
(makes enough for 2 servings, 1 socca pancake each)

• 1/2 lb ground lamb
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• salt & pepper

Assemble like a pizza!  Socca, topped with lamb, topped with cucumber…

Fresh tomato and chunks of feta cheese really brought the meal together.  I loved the saltiness and bite from the feta!  I think crumbled feta would be great mixed in with the cucumbers as well.

It was a little messy to eat.  I tried picking it up like a wrap, and then breaking pieces off, but eventually a knife and fork was the weapon of choice.

This was a great change from the usual dinners, and both Brian and I loved the flavors...we both love lamb so always looking for new ways to work it into the repertoire.

We had leftover Socca pancakes that were great

Plus the possibilities for the leftover socca pancakes were endless!  I used one as a “wrap” for a sandwich later in the week!

Try anything new-to-you lately??

Recipe Catch Up

I realized that in a couple of my recent posts I mentioned recipes ”to come”.  Well it’s about time right?

First off will be the amazing lamb marinade that I used to marinate the 6+ pounds of lamb that Brian and I made for dinner 1 night on our trip to the Outer Banks.

I am told that my mom or one of my aunts found this recipe in a magazine or some place way back in the day and everyone loved it so much it became sort of a regular occurrence at any family gathering.  That is until everyone had too much of a good thing and got sick of it, therefore I really do not remember said lamb.  That and I don't think I was too keen on eating lamb as a kid anyways.

My mom dug the recipe out for my Bridal Shower actually!  There was a Greek/Mediterranean theme to the food so this was perfect…as was my shower :)

Anyways…the Marinade:

Leg of Lamb in Mustard and Herb Marinade
(this is slightly altered from the original recipe, but very close, and easier)

1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons water
3 medium garlic cloves peeled and minced
crushed red pepper (I added a few shakes)
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh rosemary leaves
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
3 teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
approx. 6lbs boneless leg of lamb

The method I like to use is to place lamb in a large ziploc bag (or multiple large ziploc bags if needed)

Combine all other ingredients in a bowl, stir to combine, and then pour marinade into bag(s).  Let sit preferably 24hrs, or at least overnight.  You can also place bags of lamb/marinade in the freezer until ready to use. 

Grill lamb to desired doneness…I prefer medium – medium rare.  I’m no expert in the cook time of meat, so I’d recommend checking a cookbook or online for cooking times based on amount of meat you have.

Next!

This lamb was served with an orzo salad that had lots of delicious veggies and feta cheese.

Here’s what I did:

Mixed Veggie & Orzo Salad with Feta
(my version fed 13 people…so obviously scale down if needed)

• Veggies to Grill (I used zucchini, red bell pepper, and red onion, but you could use anything you like….summer squash, eggplant, etc.)
• olive oil (for grilled veggies and  I used about 1/4 c. for salad)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 box Orzo
• 1 bag Baby Spinach
• 1 package cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• fresh dill (finely chopped)
• fresh parsley (finely chopped
• salt & pepper
• 4 oz. Feta, crumbled (or more to taste)

  
Cut up veggies to grill, and brush them with olive oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper.

• Grill veggies, let cool
• Cook orzo according to box
• In a large bowl, place baby spinach
• Pour hot Orzo on top of spinach to wilt the spinach
• At this point you may want to add a drizzle of olive oil to prevent orzo from sticking
• Chop up grilled veggies
• Chop fresh veggies
• Add all vegetables to salad
• Combine lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
• Pour dressing over salad
• Add chopped herbs
• salt and pepper (don't be shy with the kosher salt)
• Don’t forget the FETA!!  Add crumbled feta
• Finally, toss this huge mess of salad gently until everything is somewhat evenly distributed
• Add additional herbs, salt, pepper, lemon juice, or olive oil as needed.

The salad was a hit!  So simple, yet so good.

The other item I made that night was the Key Lime Pie.  For this I used Barefoot Contessa’s recipe for Frozen Key Lime Pie.

My modifications were:

• Cut the butter in the crust down to 4T, plus 1-2T of water
• As I didn’t have time to freeze the pie, after the filling was placed into the baked crust, I BAKED the pie for 15min at 325 to set the filling.
• I THEN placed it in the freezer to cool down for an hour or so
• Made homemade whipped cream before serving :)

As nervous as I was cooking dinner for 13 people, it all worked out and everyone loved the food (so they say anyways).

I still have 1 more to go, the muffins, but this post has blown up before my eyes…and these eyes need to sleep!

Sweet dreams…about muffins :)

p.s. I’m trying my hand at cold-brewed iced coffee tonight.  Let’s hope that goes well!