Diversity, Or Lack Thereof (Recipe: Socca Crepe with Kale)

Despite all the diversity I’ve had in the garden throughout the season – starting with radishes and beets, then lettuces, strawberries and garlic, I never have a big bang. After a small hit of broccoli and eggplant, I’m just harvesting cucumbers, kale and tomatoes.

I’m eating kale at just about every meal, and I don’t tire of it. But it gets boring when trying to keep my blog content fresh. Even so, kale will continue to be a staple in my garden. With just $2 worth of seeds, I harvest about 2 gallons of leaves a week for 12 weeks. That’s enough to sate me in vegetables and freeze many quart bags to get me through winter. Talk about bang for your buck! Better still, kale is a nutritional powerhouse – there is no food that has more nutritional value per calorie than kale. Win-win if you ask me.

So I will continue to offer you recipes for kale as I figure out new ways to serve it.

This recipe was inspired by the Southern France street-food – socca. A chick pea crepe baked in a cast-iron skillet.

Instead of serving it like a quesadilla, cut into pie-shaped wedges, I rolled the crepe around a filling of wilted kale, pine nuts and currants, and served it with roast chicken and tomatoes.

Crepes
½ cups chick pea flour
¼ cup all purpose flour
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup water (or a mix of cream and water)
1 tbs. extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for cooking
1 bunch kale, washed and coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 tbs. pine nuts
2 tbs. currants or raisins
¼ tsp. curry powder

1. Sift flours with salt and pepper. Make a well in the center. Add the egg and water. Whisk to incorporate. Add the olive oil. The batter should be the consistency of heavy cream. Let rest for 30 minutes

2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil, raisins and garlic. When garlic starts to brown add the curry powder and pine nuts. Cook for 1 minute more and add the greens. Cook until just wilted. Coarsely chop the greens. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Brush the bottom of the pan with olive oil. Pour in a thin layer of batter, and cook until set. Flip over and cook for 30 seconds more. Remove from pan and repeat process until all the crepes are made.

4. Roll each crepe like a cigar with about 1/2 cup of filling. Reheat just before serving. And slice in half.