RECIPE: Grilled Scapes

Difficulty Level: Easy

1 bunch scapes, washed and tough woody ends trimmed

2 Tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Get the grill, grill pan, or broiler nice and hot.  Toss the scapes with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and grill until they are softened and a bit charred in places - this should only take a few minutes, depending on the strength of your heat source.

Hit with a spritz of lemon juice and serve as a side.  Pairs well with grilled meats.

RECIPE: Garlic (scape) bread

Difficulty Level: Easy!

 1 bunch Garlic Scapes (approximately 10 shoots)

 1/2 cup Butter, chopped into six pieces

 1 pinch Kosher Salt

 1 loaf of bread, French or Ciabatta, or whatever you like

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roughly chop the scapes. Add to the bowl of a food processor and process about 15 seconds. Add butter and salt and process for another 15 seconds or so, until the butter and scapes form a paste. There are two ways to tackle the assembly: Either slice the loaf length-wise and shmear or cut a dozen or so horizontal slits across the top and apply the butter inside each. Or cut the loaf in half and try both. Wrap the loaf in foil. Toss in the oven for 15 minutes.  Remove loaf, unwrap the foil and enjoy.

You can also add any fresh herbs or dried chillies to the food processor to chop with the scapes.

RECIPE: Sweet and Sour Radish and Garlic Scape Quick Pickle

Difficulty Level: Easy

This basic pickling solution can be used with great success on a variety of vegetables.  Try it with sliced cucumbers, turnips, beets, kholrahbi, lightly salting the vegetables and letting them drain in a colander or sieve first to help them get rid of a bit of moisture. It helps keep them crunchy!

1 bunch radishes

1 bunch garlic scapes
1 cup sugar
1 cup rice wine vinegar

1. Trim radishes and cut into quarters. Cut scapes into 1 inch lengths.

2. Put sugar and vinegar in a pot, turn heat to medium and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally to help the sugar dissolve.

3. Once sugar has dissolved into pickling solution, remove from heat and let cool while you jar the veggies.

4. Get a lidded glass jar large enough to fit your veggies but small enough so that they're not floating around, instead rather tightly packed, and begin layering the radishes and scapes.

5. When you are out of veggies (or room), pour pickling solution over until jar is full.

6. Cover and place in fridge for a few hours. Will keep well for about a week

RECIPE: Pesto Variations

Difficulty Level: EASY

 

We recently got a lot of great ingredients for pesto.  The garlic scapes can be made into a robust, very garlicky pesto on their own, but I prefer using a few garlic scapes in a batch of herb pesto to add a subtler flavor. The trick is to blend the scapes in olive oil first, because they need more time through the blender than the herbs do -- add in softer ingredients once the scapes are pulverized. Try the following combinations for a delicious topping for pasta, rice, salmon or chicken:

2 scapes, 3 TB olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1 good squeeze of a lemon, and the entire bunch of fresh dill, trimmed and washed (this is actually delicious in chicken soup!)

2 scapes, 3 TB olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1 TB parmesan, plus the bunch of spinach or arugula or kale, trimmed, washed, and boiled for 1-2 minutes and then mostly drained.

OR the whole bunch of scapes, 3 TB olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1  good squeeze of a lemon and the fresh dill PLUS the slightly cooked spinach/arugula/kale. 

 

 

I went easy on the salt because I knew I'd be putting mine on smoked salmon, but you'll probably want to add a little more salt and possibly pepper depending on what you decide to use these for.

Submitted by Adrienne Mishkin

RECIPE: Roasted Eggplant Dip

Ingredients:
1 eggplant
olive oil
Greek yogurt
garlic or garlic scapes
salt
paprika or cumin or Tabasco

Roast eggplant over a gas burner (or broil or grill) till the skin is dark and the flesh is tender.

Scoop out the flesh and process in food processor with roughly equal parts olive oil and plain yogurt (Greek-style for thickness), garlic or garlic scapes, salt, and seasoning of your choice. I used smoked paprika and a dash of Tabasco; cumin would be good too.

Note from Ann: I prefer to quickly microwave the garlic or scapes with the olive oil (30 seconds) to take away that raw bite.

Serve on pita chips, toasts, whatever you like.

RECIPE: Sauteed Garlic Scapes and Scallions

Ingredients

• 8-10 Garlic Scapes
• 8-10 Scallions
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

Clean and trim the scallions and garlic scapes cutting each to only the length of the pan you are using.

Heat a cast iron or other heavy pan over moderate heat.  Melt the butter and oil in the pan; once hot, add the scallions and garlic scapes.  Saute over moderate heat for 10-15 minutes or until beginning to golden in color.  Salt and pepper generously. 

RECIPE: Simple Coleslaw With Fresh Mint and Garlic

Note: Try using your Chinese (Napa) cabbage and substituting your garlic scapes for the onion to use as many items from your share as possible.

From The Seattle Times, July 2010
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
Small head of cabbage (1 to 1 ½ pounds), finely shredded

2 medium carrots, finely shredded

1/2 medium onion, finely shredded

About 1/3 cup white wine or cider vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 to 3 tightly packed tablespoons of fresh spearmint leaves

1 to 2 large garlic cloves

3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar, or 3 tablespoons cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon or more of sugar

1/3 cup mayonnaise, or to taste

Procedure
1. In a large bowl, combine the shredded cabbage, carrots, onions, the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Let stand 30 minutes. Then squeeze out most of the slaw's moisture into its bowl and put the squeezed portions in another bowl. Add about 1/4 cup of the liquid back to the slaw.

2. In a food processor or by hand, mince together the mint and garlic (add the next amount of vinegar if using the processor). Turn it into the slaw along with the second quantity of vinegar if it is not already in the mixture. Toss together everything so it's thoroughly blended, then stir in the mayonnaise. Taste for enough sweet/tart balance (it should be subtle), enough mayonnaise, and for salt and pepper.

3. Refrigerate the slaw for anywhere from 3 hours to several days. It's best the first day when the fresh mint flavor blossoms up.

RECIPE: Double Garlic Soup

From The New York Times, June 18, 2008

Serves 4

Ingedients

3 fat bulbs green garlic, root and green parts trimmed, outer layer removed

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 cups sliced garlic scapes (about 3/4 pound)

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, more for garnish

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

1 large Yukon Gold potato, peeled and diced

1 quart chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup half-and-half or whole milk

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste

Freshly grated nutmeg.

Procedure
1. Chop green garlic. In a soup pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add green garlic and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add scapes, thyme, salt and pepper, and sauté for 5 minutes.

2. Stir in potato and broth, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until scapes and potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Add half-and-half, and purée soup with an immersion blender or pour into a regular blender. Stir in the lemon juice and season with more salt and pepper. Garnish with nutmeg and thyme leaves, and serve hot.

RECIPE: Garlic scape pesto, two ways

Recipe #1

Ingredients:

• 20 fresh garlic scapes
• 2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 1/2 cups walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts (feel free to mix multiple types
• 2 cups safflower oil (you can use sunflower oil or olive oil if you don’t have safflower available)
• up 1/2 cup good white wine, optional and just to the consistency you like (you can use water – just to the consistency you prefer – if no wine is around or you don’t do alcohol)
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Procedure:
Add scapes, cheese and nuts to a food processor and begin to process while adding the safflower oil and wine a little at a time until you have reached desired thickness. Pesto can be served in a variety of consistencies, from very thick to rather thin, depending on preference. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss with cooked pasta or use any other way you would use pesto. Can be frozen for up to 90 days.

Submitted by Jason Franklin

Recipe #2

Ingredients:

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp. fresh lime or lemon juice
1/4 lb. scapes
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt to taste

Procedure:

Puree scapes and olive oil in a food processor until smooth. Stir in parmesan and lime or lemon juice and season to taste. Serve on bread, crackers or pasta.

Submitted by Laura Grund

RECIPE: White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip

From The New York Times

Yields 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sliced garlic scapes (3 to 4)

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, more to taste

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt, more to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling.

Procedure:

1. In a food processor, process garlic scapes with lemon juice, salt and pepper until finely chopped. Add cannellini beans and process to a rough purée.

2. With motor running, slowly drizzle olive oil through feed tube and process until fairly smooth. Pulse in 2 or 3 tablespoons water, or more, until mixture is the consistency of a dip. Add more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice, if desired.

3. Spread out dip on a plate, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with more salt.