garlic scapes
Last Saturday was the first day of the farmer's market, which means that the winter slough of produce despond is over. This is my second year of participating in a CSA with Sun River Farm. The farmers, James and Irene, grow the most amazing heirloom tomoatoes (more on those later, of course) and truly the best garlic I've ever had. They gave me so much garlic last summer that I was supplied through February. They grow many varieties, including a bunch of hard neck types, which (happily for me) produce garlic scapes, a tasty flower stalk that is garlicky but mild. Garlic scapes are a great addition to soup, stir-fry, hummus. You get the idea.
With my much-awaited supply of garlic scapes, I made soup (thanks to a simple and tasty recipe provided by the farmers) and a frittata. If you can track down garlic scapes, I highly recommend them.
Garlic Scape Frittata
1 1/2-2 cups garlic scapes, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons butter
6 eggs
2/3 cup grated parmesan
salt and pepper
Saute garlic scapes in olive oil or butter until soft (about five minutes). Whisk together eggs, parmesan, scapes, and s&p to taste. Melt butter in a 10-inch nonstick skillet. Just as the butter begins to foam, pour in the egg mixture. Turn the heat to low. When the eggs have thickened and just the surface is runny, put the skillet under the broiler until the top sets.
Last night, Will and I were fiddling around with guitar/ banjo and he suggested we write a song about garlic scapes (that's how good they are). We didn't get very far with the lyrics. All he could come up with is "mmmmmm, mmmmmmm."
posted by lis at 8:09 AM
4 Comments:
It is so nice to see so many blogs with food scapes in them! that looks particularly delicious
I know I'm posting late to this, but I have to tell you that I have been itching to make a garlic scape frittata since I saw your picture (and the recipe, but mostly the picture!). I added some other stuff, since I have piles of vegetables and need to use them--I sauteed a bunch of those radishes and also a small bunch of chard to go with the scapes. Needless to say, it was a veg-intensive frittata, but it was excellent.
I recently took some homemade vegetable soup out of the freezer. As it heated and I snuck spoonfuls, I realized that most of the veggies had disintegrated to mush. The flavor still rocked, but the texture disappointed. So I chopped up a couple of garlic scapes and added them to the pot, and suddenly it was a bright and happy soup again. Garlic scapes saved the soup!
I had less success with a more recent recipe (an eSCAPade?): garlic scape pesto. No pine nuts, no basil, just scapes, oil, parmesan, salt, pepper. Raw, it's pretty harsh. I'm going to try it on pasta and see if it mellows as it warms. I'll probably also throw some herbs in to soften the flavor, and I suppose could add nuts too. But I liked the idea of a fresher, lighter, greener pesto.
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