Garlic scapes? You're probably asking yourself, like I did... "what on earth?!?" On Saturday mornings at Klem's in Spencer, there is a cute little farmer's market - don't you just love buying local in season produce?! Makes me feel, well, healthy.
So back to the scapes... They are a new discovery for me and now I can't even fathom that I ever threw them away!! They are the green flower stalks that grow up from the garlic bulb and are cut off in the spring so that the plant can focus on the garlic bulb itself. They have a very mild garlic flavor and have a good green bean crunch. Cut it up for a salad or make some pesto with it! I opted to make a quick pasta dish with some rainbow chard that I also got at the farmer's market.
Real simple:
1. Boil some whole grain pasta and reserve a cup or so of the pasta water when it's almost done.
2. While the pasta is cooking separate the stems from the chard leaves, chop 'em and start sauteing in some olive oil. After 4 minutes, add your 1 inch chopped scapes (you will have snapped the bulbous top off them as this is not good eats.) At this point I also add some red pepper flakes.
3. Throw in your already grilled and sliced up turkey kielbasa...oh did I forget to mention the MEAT? Well, this was an afterthought and not essential to a light early summer pasta dish, but hubster wanted meat, so VOILA.
4. Then add your chard leaves and continue cooking until just wilted...add some pasta water and some freshly grated parmesan cheese and cook until thickened.
5. Add pasta and toss -- check for salt and pepper and that's it!!!
1 comment:
Garlic scapes are our favorite new discovery. I just made pesto yesterday but next time I think I will cut it with spinach or basil or something as only using the scapes was a little strong for us. Hmmm... I threw out the chard stems when we got a bunch from our CSA, whoops :)
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