The Great (Garlic) Scape
Anna Bond
Wasn’t it only a few weeks ago we were overjoyed at the onset of spring? Now summer’s just around the corner, and local markets are abounding in berries, greens, asparagus, the season’s first peas… But yet to arrive is everyone’s kitchen staple: garlic. While it’s easy enough to pick up held-over and shipped-in cloves at the grocery, the flavor of the local Rocambole garlic from NYC favorite Keith’s Organic Farm is tremendous: less pungent, with a slight vegetal sweetness that makes it somehow more “garlicky” than the more familiar supermarket varieties.
Garlic lovers who don’t want to wait can get their fix with garlic scapes—stalks that grow along with the bulbs—which came into vogue last year, aided by a widely-blogged recipe for garlic scape pesto (What Geeks Eat has a lovely version). But for those of us who aren’t pesto fans, or who don’t own food processors, or who are just plain lazy (or all three!), there are some great alternative ways to enjoy this fleeting delight.
Lazy Smurf has a recipe for Thai fried rice with garlic scapes, punched up for serving with a squeeze of fresh lime and a minced green onion garnish; another Asian-inspired idea is this recipe for dry-fried scapes from A Bushel Of What, which adapts a Chinese-restaurant style spicy green bean preparation to scapes.
And what’s a summer vegetable post without a pickle recipe?
Not Without Salt pickles garlic scapes, then uses the end product in the tartar sauce accompanying oven-baked onion rings.
Stephen Cooks pairs garlic scapes with wild mushrooms atop pasta, while the rabble-rousers at What The Hell Does A Vegan Eat Anyway offer fried scapes along with other vegetables in tempura.
So when it comes to scapes, think beyond pesto! This limited-time-only seasonal vegetable has a lot more to offer – and you’ll get parent garlic’s impressive antioxidant profile (and vampire-fighting properties) to boot.
Thanks to Michael for the post idea!
[Top photo from urbanfoodie33 on Flickr]
