Vegetable Pancakes with Yogurt Sauce

As part of my self challenge to blog about every recipe I cook with my CSA produce this year, I am sharing this recipe for vegetable pancakes, from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. One of my favorite cookbooks I own, I use it a lot.

We got a lot of great produce this week. Potatoes, Swiss chard, snow peas, lettuce, basil, green onion, cucumber....definitely a lot or great stuff! So I figured I better get cooking tonight if I'm going to use up all the great produce.

There are a lot of variations you can make for these pancakes. The book says you can also use parsnips,sweet potatoes, winter squash, turnips, beets, celery root, or cooked, squeezed chopped spinach or other greens
Vegetable Pancakes (adapted from Mark Bittman's recipe)
Ingredients:
about 1 pound zucchini, yellow squash, and carrot (about 2 cups packed)
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup flour, more or less
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Half-and-half, as needed
2 tablespoons butter and/or olive oil, plus more for the pan (I used a combination on the griddle, and olive oil in the pancakes)


Here are the CSA vegetables I used, plus I decided to add in a little parsley (not pictured) Zucchini, spring onion, zephyr squash, and garlic scapes (the garlic scapes were used in the yogurt sauce)


Incidentally, here is my new kitchen island, purchased from Ikea to be my workspace. My counter is overtaken by coffee makers, other appliances, cooking oils, etc. It has storage space underneath, and hooks to hang lots of things on.

1. Preheat the oven or toaster to warm or 2275 degrees F. Grate the vegetables. I used my lovely new grater, it makes really nice thin strips.

All the veggies mixed together.

Mix the vegetables, onion, egg, and flour together. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and parmesan cheese. Then add just enough half-and-half so that the mixture drops easily from a large spoon. Stir in 2 tablespoons olive oil.

Here is the batter, ready to go on the griddle.

2. Put a pat of butter or a spoonful of oil on a griddle over medium heat. When the butter is melted or the oil is hot, drop in spoonfuls of the batter; use a fork to spread the vegetables into an even layer.
You have to work in batches, keep pancakes in oven until all are finished.Cook, turning once, until nicely browned on both sides, about 15 minutes.

Cookin up on the griddle.

Serve hot or at room temperature with yogurt sauce (recipe below)

Yogurt Sauce (adapted from Mark Bittman's recipe)
1 cup yogurt, whole milk
1 minced garlic scape
salt and freshly ground pepper
lemon juice
freshly chopped parsley and chives

1. Combine the yogurt with the garlic, a pinch of salt, pepper, lemon juice, and herbs. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
2. Refrigerate until ready to use.