Friday, July 4, 2008

Garlic Scapes: A Fast Breakdown

Scape and Eggs

Let the scape insanity begin. Well, actually, it began here quite a while ago, but I am just coming down from it enough to write about it. After purchasing scapes at the market, we ended up getting more from our CSA. (Yes, our CSA has finally kicked in. Glory Be.)

I got really into scapes because Belle loves garlic. A few weeks ago at the Market, Belle could not get enough of the samples of butter-sauteed scapes to the point where it was almost embarassing. (When are too many samples too many?)
Scape Kimchi
So, what have I done with our bounty? Well, the usual.
Scapes and eggs. With macaroni pasta, eggplant, sauteed scapesand cherry tomatoes. Raw in Vegan Cole Slaw. With Roast Chicken. As kimchi (follow my ramp recipe, but add sesame seeds.)

But, most enjoyably in Scape Green Goddess Dressing. My husband and I are too young to really know the hey-day of this California sensation. But, apparently, it was a herby concoction used with salad or with crudite.

In case, you missed all those other scape posts on many blogs, the scape is the top of the garlic. It is a seasonal item with an interesting texture not unlike asparagus stems and only faintly garlicky. For my dressing, I combined 1/2 cup chopped scapes, 1/4 cup minced parsley, 1/4 cup minced chives, 1 small pinch tarragon in a blender and then wizzed into a paste. To this I added 2 T lemon juice, salt, pepper, 2 T white wine vinegar, and 1.5 cups plain low fat yoghurt. (You can add a touch of anchovies to give it a more rounded taste, but we didn't.)
Scape Green Goddess
This was so good and herby, my husband and I sincerely considered drinking it as a tonic. (It must cure something.) In the end, we used it as a dressing for quinoa and vegetables. We also used in on roasted potatoes as a sort of tapas.

If you would like read other recipes that focus on herbs, please join me in reading the now even more herby Weekend Herb Blogging started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen and hosted this week by Pam from Sidewalk Shoes

4 comments:

Kalyn Denny said...

Just bookmarked this recipe. I'm old enough to have been a green goddess fan, and when I saw "tarragon" I was hooked. I didn't see any scapes at my farmer's market, but maybe next weekend. Sounds like you have some good ideas for using them.

Cynthia said...

I've never had garlic scapes.

Nancy Heller said...

I'm jealous! We ate of all our garden scapes in three meals - none left until next year. Though Mustard Seed Market in Solon has them - its just not the same, somehow, to buy them in a store.

Anonymous said...

My CSA has been very generous with garlic scapes this year... so generous, that my usual "I'll just make salsa out of them" fallback hasn't been nearly sufficient. I would never have thought to make kimchi from them--shame on me!--so thank you!