GASTRONORMOUS

The sign says the garlic scapes are $1.50 a bunch, but you may note that there is nary a “bunch” of these twisty tendrils to be seen—just a crate filled with loose ones. When I asked the proprietress of this booth at the Fort Greene Farmers’ Market last Saturday what constituted a bunch, she pursed her lips and dove both hands into the box. She pulled out two big handfuls of the scapes and offered them forward, shrugging “This much?” I was agreeable to the “bunch” size and held open my shopping bag so that she could unburden herself of scapes, as I unburdened by wallet of a buck-fifty.

Garlic scapes are the green stems that shoot up from the developing garlic bulb. They are cut off so that the garlic bulb itself can grow bigger. I imagine that as farmers figure out that they can extend their profits by selling these, garlic scapes will become more and more familiar to American markets (they have been eaten in parts of Europe for ages). And after my little culinary experiment, I certainly hope that is the case.

I had supposed the scapes would be relatively mild, in the vein spring garlic or ramps. But no, garlic scapes have an extremely pungent aroma, and an even stronger flavor. Cooking with them, I thought, might be a challenge. Having never used them before, I turned to the computer for more information and recipes, but to little avail. My search of the fantastic recipe website Epicurious came up with zero hits for scapes. A Google search brought up some references to garlic scape pesto, which sounded like a good option for dinner that night, but not much else that was useful.

But first that early afternoon, I needed to figure out what to do with the beautiful yellow and green pattypan squash I also bought at the market (and how to incorporate the scapes into whatever I decided to make with them). As it was incredibly hot out that day, I was already anticipating not wanting to stand in front of the stove cooking too much that evening, so a cold squash salad sounded like the perfect side dish to go with my planned garlic scape pesto.

My cold squash salad couldn’t be simpler to make, but does require some marinating time, so plan ahead if you are going to make it. I used scapes in this, but if you don’t have this pungent allium on hand, then substitute scallions, a couple cloves of crushed garlic, or some fresh herbs (dill would be good). Don’t overdo it with the add-ins, though; the point of this recipe is to celebrate in-season produce.

Summer Squash and Scape Salad

3 T apple cider vinegar
3 T extra virgin olive oil (a flavorless oil would also work)
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
a few grinds of pepper
2-3 garlic scapes
4-5 pattypan squash (or 3-4 of another type of summer squash)

Whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Trim and slice the scapes crosswise. Use a mandolin or food processor to slice the squash as thinly as possible.

Give the dressing another good whisk and dump in the sliced squash and scapes. Give it a gentle stir, cover in plastic and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Stir again before serving. (A lot of liquid escapes from the squash during the marinating process, so you might want to serve using a slotted spoon.)

*A note: I plated this on top of mixed greens, which looks nice, but actually did the flavor of the dish a disservice. Next time I would serve the squash salad on its own.

Serves 4 (as a side).

Tune in later for my unusual and delicious garlic scape pesto recipe!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 6:37 pm and is filed under Food musings, Recipes, Weeknight recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.