Jun. 28, 2021
Cooking In Season
Salad Meals to Beat the Heat
In this recipe round up, I have gathered my best and most delicious summer salad meal recipes in one post, for days when it’s too hot to cook!
June 30, 2012
What to Do with Garlic Scapes?
A chef's guide to using garlic scapes (the green stems of young garlic plants). These are abundant in the farmers’ markets in June, and they are super versatile in the kitchen!
Scapes are the green stems of the garlic plants, trimmed in the spring to prevent their blooms from sucking energy from the precious bulb below. They show up abundantly in farmers’ markets in June and honestly look a bit startling if you haven’t seen them before – long coiled green stems with grass-like pointed ends.
I have been buying scapes from farmers for at least twenty years, but until recently I have limited my culinary use of garlic scapes to places where I would have used green onions – maybe in a stir-fry, or chopped up into tuna salad or a pasta sauce. I find they are a good garlic stand-in, arriving in time to save me from despair when the last of my winter storage garlic runs out and the new crop is not yet ready.
Last spring, I started to get a little more creative. (Aside: you would think I would spend a little more time on kitchen creativity, being a chef and all. But chefs are famously un-creative at home, burned out on cooking from doing it all day. To say nothing of the two kids and after-school activities I have to juggle along with dinner time.)
This is what happened: A friend told me about her family’s recipe for pickled garlic scapes – I immediately imagined mini super-garlic cornichons to have with cheese or in vegetable salads. Mmmm! And so I made them and they are KILLER.
Next, a moment of desperation led to an inspired twist on my family’s favourite garlic-pepper steak rub. Think about a pesto-like mixture of black pepper and green garlic scapes, and then think about how great that would taste on steak.
Pickling the garlic scapes uses up the most, so that would be the recipe to use if you have a lot of scapes on hand, or if you want the flavour to last through the winter. Jars of the pickles would make lovely gifts, as well. The steak rub recipe is more useful, though. It comes in handy to help make an easy and delicious full meal, rather than just a condiment. But garlic scapes are so plentiful right now that you can easily buy enough to make both recipes.
UPDATE: I have now also made a delicious recipe for garlic-greens and cheese curds, using garlic scapes, and blogged about it. It is really really good, possibly my favourite use so far for garlic scapes!
SECOND UPDATE: I have made a recipe for herb & garlic scape pesto with nuts & Parmesan and blogged about it. Check it out!
Pickled Garlic Scapes
These refrigerator pickles are easy to make and require no special equipment. They will last over a year in the fridge. Enjoy with cheese and crackers or chopped into salads (potato salad is especially good). Feel free to cut the recipe in half, or to double it.
Ingredients
2 500 ml mason jars
25 to 35 garlic scapes
500 ml (2 cups) white vinegar
240 ml (1 cup) water
50 g (1/4 cup) sugar
22 ml (1-1/2 Tb) kosher salt
Optional Flavourings - dill sprigs, dried red chili, etc
Instructions
- Trim garlic scapes, wash them and cut them into cornichon-length peices (about 2 to 4 cm long).
- Place the dill and /or chili (if using) in the bottoms of the jars. Place the garlic scapes in the jars, packing them in as well as you can.
- In a small saucepan heat the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt until simmering and the salt and sugar are dissolved.
- Pour warm vinegar mixture over the garlic scapes to cover them (you may not use all of the vinegar mixture). Seal the jar. Let sit until cool, then store in the refrigerator for at least 4 weeks before eating.
- If you want to give them as gifts, you can process the jars in a boiling water bath immediately after pouring in the warm vinegar.
Garlic Scape Black Pepper Steak Rub
An inspired twist on the classic garlic-pepper steak rub. Think about a pesto-like mixture of black pepper and green garlic scapes, and then think about how great that would taste on steak.
Ingredients
7.5 ml (1-1/2 tsp) fine sea salt
10 ml (2 tsp) freshly ground black pepper
6 garlic scapes, chopped
45 ml (3 Tb) extra virgin olive oil
Note ~ This amount makes enough to season 4 steaks, about 170 g - 220 g (6 to 8 oz) each.
Instructions
- Combine everything in the work bowl of a food processor or in the mixing cup of a hand-blender. Process or blend until pureed (like a pesto).
- Pat steaks dry with paper towel. Place on a a plate or in a large sealable container. Rub about 1 Tb or so of the scape pesto on each side of each steak.
- Let steak marinade for a minimum of 1 hour, preferrably longer – 4 to 8 hours is optimum. You want the steaks to rest long enough so that the salt draws the juices out and then the juices are drawn back in – this takes time. If you rush the process, your steaks will be dry.
- Grill steaks over a medium-hot fire for several minutes per side, until done to your liking. Let rest a minimum of 5 minutes before serving.
this is the second post today i’ve seen re pickled scapes. so gonna jump on that train! choo choo!
Small side note: Tomorrow (wed) is the very first posting for our Fresh Foods Link Up! Come share your CSA collections, farmer’s market treasures, home grown/raised hauls, and/or any seasonal recipes or DIY projects or tutorials! We’ve got a way for bloggers AND blog readers to participate!
Thank goodness a fan posted this link when I asked for help on Garlic Scapes! I have not ever used them or tried them – Now I can do both these recipes they look awesome!!
Thanks!!
Gwen
Hi Gwen – let me know how they turn out.
H
Hi Heidi…a neighbor offered me some scapes from her garden, and although unsure of what to do with them, I never turn down offerings from the garden. Upon my return home, your email was in my inbox…we had homemade pizza planned for dinner, so I quickly whipped up the pesto (adding in a bit of lemon juice and parmesan) and used it as a base on one of the pizzas. It was fantastic!! The following night, we did your steak recipe, which turned out equally delicious. My husband, who prior to this was unfamiliar with garlic scapes is now a huge fan of the pesto. Would love to try the pickling recipe as well (will have to stroll over to the neighbor again)…thanks for the awesome recipe!
Hi Mariann, I’m so glad you enjoyed the pesto! Mmmmmm, on pizza – what a fabulous idea.
I really like the steak rub idea. How do you preserve it?
Hi Joy, I have never tried to preserve it, but I imagine that it would freeze beautifully.
I have some garlic scapes in my freezer. I’d really like to try pickling scapes. Can I use frozen or do I have to wait until I can get some fresh again?
I am organic garlic grower and will have lot of garlic scapes in a week. You know anybody interested in selling.
Can you eat the tops of garlic scapes?
I was wanting to add garlic scapes to my dill pickles. Can I do that ? Or do they require being in a hot water bath?
Yes, you absolutely can! That will be delicious.
I took my last pickle spear from the jar, stuffed the jar with pickle juice full with Garlic Scapes, so the pickle juice filled the stuffed jar, back in the fridge with the lid on. About a month later, pulled it out and tried one…super good and still crisp. Super easy.
That is a GREAT idea!