I've written about garlic scapes here before. Bright green stalks that shoot from the tops of young growing garlic in June-ish, scapes evoke a wild flavor similar to how you'd imagine summer grass to taste.
I used this scape spread to assemble a green and white pizza, along with crumbles of goat feta, fresh chopped leeks, bits of kalamata olives, and a scattering of crushed hot pepper. The combination was delicious, but almost over-the-top so from all the salt in the cheese and olives. Next time, it's one or the other - parmesan in the pesto or feta in the mix - not both.
Extra pesto-feta-olive-leek mix went into a quinoa and chickpea salad. Despite repeated attempts, I have a hard time enjoying quinoa, but hiding it in the garlic scape pesto worked for me. I think this pesto also has a future in a pasta salad with some tiny sliced cherry tomatoes.
Have you tried garlic scapes? What's your favorite preparation?
i have never heard of garlic scapes before, but the pesto you made with them sounds/looks amazing. and the pizza!! green foods are the bestest/yummiest.
ReplyDeleteWould spring onions substitute? I've never seen anything called garlic scapes this side of the atlantic. But that looks crazy delicious.
ReplyDeleteJulia, I would love to get together some time for drinks and commiseration! I'm in Park Slope, but happy to roam - shoot me an email!
ReplyDeletespirographs.flyingfish(at)gmail(dot)com
that looks amazing! i have never tried garlic scapes before, but i'm going to have to. where can i get them? farmer's market? union square?
ReplyDeleteI got lost on the feta note and haven't found my way back out. Feta feta feta. Feta all the way. Nothing can beat feta. I'd eat feta every day.
ReplyDeleteOk, ok-- my garlic HAS scapes. Right now! They're little curly flower buds growing right off my garlic plants. And I had NO IDEA they could be edible all on their own. My question now is: will my garlic plants still make garlic bulbs if I de-scape them for the dinner table?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, go check out Dear Golden Vintage. Besides fabulous clothes, I think she mentioned a simple scape recipe recently. Scapes abound this spring, apparently.
agirl - Scapes became popular over here recently when farmers realized they could make a buck off it. Spring onions aren't quite the same but you could definitely try it in pesto - or fresh spring garlic.
ReplyDeleteGiovanna - you can definitely find scapes at the Union Square farmers market, and most other farmers markets.
Beth - I think as with clipping plants before they flower, trimming off the scapes helps the plant focus its resources on the bulb, so go ahead!
This looks so, so, so good! Dinner tonight for me, perhaps...
ReplyDeleteOh heck yeah - this looks so good!
ReplyDeleteBTW, thanks for the email/pic! When you sent it, I realized I have STILL neglected to put your blog on my feed! Well, I'm fixing that now! Love it!
I just made this scape pesto, but subbed the almonds for pine nuts since I had them around. One word: AMAZING! I tossed it with whole wheat angel hair pasta and about a cup of pasta water, and it was incredible.
ReplyDeleteI can always count on you for delicious recipes!
xo, Elizabeth
"Summer grass" is a perfect description. Your pizza looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteI realize I'm late to this party, but OMG that looks delicious! I have a random question for you, how do you make the pizza dough, is it yeast based? I've got a yeast allergy, so I've been trying to figure out if I could make a pizza using a baking powder dough instead of yeast. Any thoughts?
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