Everyday Life for Four Seasons

I'll tell you how much of a food dork I really am. I've been waiting for this second week in June since the middle of June last year. Two words: Garlic Scapes. I was introduced to them 2 summers ago when we did the CSA with a local farm here in Saratoga County (community-supported agriculture: it's a food share, where you pay a farm at the beginning of the season and you get a share of the harvest for the whole summer). When I first saw the garlic scapes, I was a little freaked out. They don't look like something you can really cook with. But oh my, are they fabulous! They taste like garlic, but aren't as strong as garlic. So, what are they? A "scape" is the green stalk that grows out of the garlic, above ground. As it grows taller, it curls, and when it curls, the farmers cut them off so that the garlic growing underground will grow better. The scape is often thrown away.


I make 2 dishes with them and I will share the recipes. If you're looking for scapes, you have one week left, and they are hard to find. I found one table at the Ballston Spa farmer's market and I bought all they had left. OK, maybe that's one reason they're hard to find - I buy all of them! Anyway, after next week, they're gone. Get them while you can.


Garlic Scape Pesto
Chop up a lot of scapes and put them in your food processor. Add a handful of nuts (pine nuts or walnuts). Grind in some Parmesan cheese. Add some salt. Then add a whole bunch of olive oil. More olive oil. And you know what? Lemon juice would probably be good too. I forgot to do that tonight.

There you go, you now have Garlic Scape Pesto! Parse it out into the freezer tray and when they are cold and solid, pop them into a ziploc bag and you have portion-sized sauce ready to go.

Garlic breath, here we come!


Pasta with Garlic Scapes
Cut up the fat part of the scapes into 1-inch lengths. Discard the narrow ends. Heat up some olive oil in a pan. Add the scapes, saute for a minute or two. Pour over pasta. Mix in some tomatoes, and serve. Delicious!


Oh, one more -- if you like to eat crusty bread with your dinner, you can add some finely chopped scapes to a plate of olive oil and use that as a dipping oil.

Beware, I did try to make scape hummus last year and it was a miserable failure.


Here are some links about Scapes: Scapes and More Scapes.