Hello everyone, Jess here. Happy Sunday!
It’s that time again for Sunday dinner, and it was the Anderson’s turn to host this week. Given all the Strawberry Festival hub bub, I knew tonight’s dinner would need to be a simple one, either a quick cook, or slow cook option. I opted for grilling because my better half can do it whilst I prep the indoor food.
After our Sunday School picnic and a Kindergarten birthday party, I rushed home and formed some quick patties with my Springdell ground beef, thawed in the fridge for 2 days. Whilst Glen was on meat duty, I coarsely chopped my garlic scapes. Let me just say that my house looks like the Tasmanian Devil wound his way through it (inevitable the week before Strawberry Fest), so I’ll spare you and keep with close-up shots tonight.
I have been waiting to dip into these babies all week. The hard part about a Monday CSA pickup is holding on to something for Sunday Dinner. You can pickle, freeze, and ferment garlic scapes, but there is something about having them fresh. These are hidden gems that CSA members are privy to, one of those things that you might never think to try unless they showed up in your share box. The flavor is delectable- garlicky, but in a sweet springy kind of way- almost like if you crossed a pea with a garlic clove, but even better than that! Cooking these just a bit mellows out the garlicky bite quickly, making them perfect for stir-fry, grilling, or sautéeing.
This is the first time I’ve had scapes from the ‘Dell. Apparently it’s a special variety of garlic that produces scapes like these (not all garlic has them), and this is not one a variety that Farmer Jamie has grown before. I, for one, wholeheartedly approve! I hope you’ll try them in your dishes, make pestos while you can, this season doesn’t last forever and you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Okay, enough of me waxing poetic about the yumminess of the scapes. Let’s see what we can do with them!
You’ll notice that the little bulbous part of the scape tapers to a point. I took the points (which tend to be a little tougher, and gave them a fine dice and quick trip through the sauté pan with butter. You’ll see that I am making a mushroom topping for a potato tonight, and given not all my guests like mushrooms, the garlic scape tips act as a chive-like garnish on a sour cream slathered potato.
Here you see the scapes coarsely chopped and in a healthy hunk of browned Amish roll butter over medium heat in the sauté pan. As soon as the scapes are just becoming tender (maybe 2 minutes), I tossed in some handfuls of arugula and tossed around the pan until the arugula was wilted.
Meanwhile, in another pan, I had some shiitakes from Fat Moon that I sautéed for a couple of minutes in a splash of sherry and with a few sprigs of thyme. Once the sherry reduced a bit, I tossed in some cream and reduced again to a thick sauce.
The mushroom mixture topped a yukon gold potato.
The arugula and garlic scape mixture topped my burger.
Yup, delicious. 10/10 would do again.