Harmony Valley Farm: garlic scapes

Things are changing fast around here! Over the past week the strawberries have started to ripen and now over two-thirds of the field has red berries. We have cilantro coming in from several different fields and we may be harvesting zucchini by the end of the week! The garlic field is pulling into the next phase of development as it is pushing out scapes, which is the focus of this week’s feature article!

This week we’re featuring two very simple, yet versatile recipes. The first is for Garlic Scape & Basil Dip (See Below). You can use this as a dip, or I’ve given you a few other ideas for how you can use this recipe in multiple ways. I also included one of my favorite recipes, Garlic Scape & Cilantro Pesto (See Below). It is so easy to make a batch of this and keep it in the refrigerator. I mix a spoonful into scrambled eggs in the morning, toss it with hot pasta and chicken for a quick dinner, or use it as a spread on a ham sandwich. Beyond these two recipes, thank you to the member in our Facebook Group who shared a link to 30+ Ways to Use Garlic Scapes! This is a great collection of recipes and definitely worth checking out!

Baked Strawberry Cream Cheese French Toast
Photo from www.halfbakedharvest.com

This week’s box is heavy on vegetables to use for some delightful spring salads! I included several links for salad ideas that incorporate other items in the box, such as this recipe for Asparagus & Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing. You can incorporate your strawberries into salad as well for a savory spin on things. Check out these recipes for Arugula & Goat Cheese Salad with Fresh Strawberries and Strawberry Poppyseed Salad. If you’d like to save your mini heads of lettuce for something other than salads, check out these two recipe collections for 30 Best Lettuce Wrap Recipes and

20 Lettuce Wrap Recipes You’ll Want to Devour Stat!. They have some excellent options for using lettuce leaves as wraps and carriers for tasty fillings!

On the non-salad front, I added a little variety to offer suggestions for a few ideas that may serve as a main dish item. These Grilled Shrimp Tacos with Creamy Cilantro Sauce and Grilled Steak with Scallion Ginger Sauce sounded like good recipes to kick off grilling season!

I’ll wrap up this week’s Cooking With the Box article with a few recipes from the sweet side of things. I have not had baked French Toast in quite a while, but this recipe for Baked Strawberry Cream Cheese French Toast looks decadent! Of course, you can never go wrong with a simple crisp such as this Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp!

Have a great week and as always, let us know what you’re cooking up in your kitchens over the next week! I also want to remind you that our Strawberry Day event is coming up very soon on Sunday, June 18. If you are a CSA member, check your email for more information about this event and a link to RSVP. See you next week!

-Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Garlic Scapes

by Andrea Yoder

Garlic scapes are a great example of how interesting and diverse the world of vegetables can be! If you are not familiar with garlic scapes, they are easily identifiable. They are green, long, and skinny and have a natural curl to them, hence we work with the curl when we bunch them.

Garlic Scapes in the field

Nearly the entire scape is edible and is best when harvested while young and tender. You may need to trim off the skinny end near the little bulb at the far end of the scape as this portion is often tough. The remainder of the scape is usable and tender, so they do not need to be peeled. Scapes have a bright, juicy, mild garlic flavor. They may be used in any recipe that calls for garlic cloves, just chop them up and add them as you would minced garlic. They can also be grilled or roasted, pickled, fermented, and make an awesome pesto! They are a great addition to eggs, stir-fries, pizzas, etc.

Garlic scapes are actually a byproduct of growing hardneck garlic. They grow up from the center of the plant and we harvest them in early June, about a month ahead of our annual garlic harvest. Scapes are part of nature’s plan for the plant to propagate itself in the soil. If left unattended, the bulbil on the end of the scape would get bigger and would eventually be so heavy as the scape grows up out of the center of the plant that it would fall down and plant itself, thereby propagating a new plant! We’re cultivating garlic, so we plant a clove of garlic from a full-sized bulb and use that as a means of growing the plant. Since we don’t need the scape to produce another crop, we go through the field and cut them off from the plant so the plant can focus its energy into producing a nice sized bulb instead of a scape.

Up until the early 90’s we used to remove scapes from the garlic plant and throw them on the ground! We were the first farm in the Midwest to start harvesting the scapes for use as a vegetable, thanks to one of our customers from Korea who asked us to save the garlic scapes for her so she could make pickles. We thought this was odd but saved some for her anyway. She was gracious enough to share a jar of pickled scapes with us and that was our introduction to how delicious they are to eat!

Store scapes in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them. They’ll store for 2-3 weeks. If you’re looking for some interesting ways to use garlic scapes this year, check out this article featured at www.practicalselfreliance.com for a list of 30 tasty garlic scape recipes!

Garlic Scape & Basil Dip

Photo from www.yellowbirchbobbyfarm.com

Yield: 1 ½ cups

6 garlic scapes

¼ cup fresh basil leaves

1 ½ cups full fat sour cream

1 lemon

¾ tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

Trim the ends of the garlic scapes and roughly chop into 1-inch pieces. Add them to a food processor along with the basil. Process in the food processor until very finely chopped. Scrape the contents out into a medium mixing bowl.
Add the sour cream, the juice from the lemon, and the salt and pepper. Mix well. Add more salt and/or pepper as needed, to taste.
Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld, then serve.

Recipe borrowed from www.yellowbirchhobbyfarm.com.

Serving Suggestions: This is a simple, handy recipe to make as you can use this “dip” to enhance your meals in a variety of ways. Use this dip for fresh vegetables or serve it with grilled asparagus or roasted or baked potatoes, add a drizzle to tacos, grilled fish, pork, or beef, or add a dollop to a bowl of beans or lentils. You can thin it out with a touch of cream and turn it into a creamy dressing to toss with romaine lettuce, or substitute cream cheese for the sour cream and turn it into a spread for sandwiches, wraps, flatbreads, or crackers.

Garlic Scape & Cilantro Pesto

Serves 6 (Makes approximately 1 ½ cups)

1 cup garlic scapes (6 to 8 scapes, or about 1 bunch), cut into 1-inch pieces, tips removed and discarded

1 bunch cilantro, leaves and stems coarsely chopped

½ cup raw pumpkin seeds, toasted and cooled

1/3 cup cold-pressed sunflower oil

2 tsp lime juice or apple cider vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine scapes and pumpkin seeds in food processor and pulse until coarsely ground.
Add cilantro, lime juice and oil; pulse until evenly chopped. Season with salt and pepper. Use within a week in the fridge or freeze it.

**HVF Serving suggestions: Toss with hot pasta and grated cheese for a quick dinner; Stir into scrambled eggs, use as a spread on a sandwich, mix with sour cream or plain yogurt and use as a dip for fresh veggies.

We featured this simple recipe in our newsletter back in 2015, but I wanted to publish it again for those of you who may be relatively new to CSA. Creative credit for this recipe goes to Dani Lind, a longtime friend of HVF and a talented chef from our area! Her recipe was originally featured in the Edible Madison, Season by Season 5th Anniversary Edition.

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

June 10, 2021 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Garlic Scapes!

Cooking With This Week's Box

Garlic Scapes:
Lemon Garlic Scape Compound Butter (See Below)
Roasted Garlic Scape Hummus (See Below)
Grilled Naan with Garlic Scape Chutney

Potato Onions:
The Best Egg Salad (with lots of scallions)

Orzo Salad with Scallions, Hazelnuts and Golden Raisins

Baby Spinach or Arugula:
Creamy Garlic Shrimp with Spinach
Chickpea Spinach Curry
Cheesy Fritters with Arugula Salad
White Bean Pizza with Arugula Salad

Salad Mix:
Strawberry Vinaigrette
Lemon Dill Vinaigrette

Rhubarb:
Strawberry Rhubarb Popsicles
Old Fashioned Rhubarb Custard Pie

Mini Green Boston Lettuce:
Boston Lettuce Salad with Citrus-Honey Vinaigrette
Boston Lettuce with Bacon Dressing

Pea Vine:
Pea Vine Cream Cheese
Pea Vine Vinaigrette

Strawberries:
Strawberry Lemonade
Strawberry Pico de Gallo

Green Curly Kale:
Lemon Kale Muffins
Spicy Kale and Coconut Fried Rice
Kale, Bacon and Egg Breakfast Sandwich

Strawberry Rhubarb Popsicles
photo from rhubarbarians.com

Welcome back to this week’s Cooking With the Box! Things are really heating up in the valley and that means vegetables are growing like crazy! We’ll be harvesting zucchini next week, cucumbers will follow behind shortly, and before we know it we’ll be doing our 2021 garlic harvest! Of course we’re also in the midst of strawberry season AND we’ll likely be picking the first peas next week! Is anyone else excited for all the delicious vegetables yet to come?!

This week we’re featuring the crazy, curly garlic scape. You can use these anywhere you need garlic flavor, but you can also make them the center of the recipe, such as in the Roasted Garlic Scape Hummus (See Below) recipe this week. This recipe uses nearly an entire bunch of scapes which gives it a very dominant garlic flavor. If you want something more subtle, you can cut the amount of scapes in half. If you like the flavor of garlic, then make it full strength! I’ve also included a recipe for Lemon Garlic Scape Compound Butter (See Below). This is a super easy recipe to make and a way to spread the bright flavor of garlic scapes out over multiple meals. For a quick meal, saute a piece of fresh fish and melt some of this butter on top.

Spicy Kale and Coconut Fried Rice

This is our last week for rhubarb, and we have one chance at the overlap with strawberries! If you have a favorite recipe using both of these ingredients, this is the week to use it. If not, consider making an Old Fashioned Rhubarb Custard Pie or Strawberry Rhubarb Popsicles for the kids!

The kale field looks gorgeous this week and we couldn’t resist sending a bunch of the curly, crispy green kale your way. Use it to make this simple Spicy Kale and Coconut Fried Rice or enjoy it for breakfast in this Kale,Bacon and Egg Breakfast Sandwich. If you’re not big into kale, use it to make Lemon Kale Muffins. Trust me, they are delicious.

These are just a few of the recipe highlights we have for you this week, but hopefully you’ll find something within the list of suggested recipes that will spark your interest with this week’s box! In the meantime, start pulling out those zucchini recipes. It’s almost time to start our annual zucchini marathon!

Have a great week! --Chef Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Garlic Scapes

Description: Garlic scapes are a long, skinny, curly green vegetable that is actually a byproduct of growing hardneck garlic. They grow up from the center of the plant and we harvest them in June, about a month ahead of our annual garlic harvest.

Preparation & Use: Nearly the entire scape is edible and is best when harvested while young and tender. You may need to trim off the skinny end near the little bulb at the far end of the scape as this portion is often tough. The remainder of the scape is usable and tender, so they do not need to be peeled. Scapes have a bright, juicy, mild garlic flavor. They may be used in any recipe that calls for garlic cloves, just chop them up and add them as you would minced garlic. They can also be grilled or roasted, pickled, fermented, and make an awesome pesto! They are a great addition to eggs, stir-fries, pizzas, etc.

Storage: Store scapes in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them. They’ll store for 2-3 weeks.

Garlic Scapes growing in the field.

Cultural & Historical Background: Up until the early 90’s we used to remove scapes from the garlic plant and throw them on the ground! We were the first farm in the Midwest to start harvesting the scapes for use as a vegetable, thanks to one of our customers from Korea who asked us to save the garlic scapes for her so she could make pickles. We thought this was odd, but saved some for her anyway. She was gracious enough to share a jar of pickled scapes with us and that was our introduction to how delicious they are to eat!

Growing Information: All of our varieties of garlic are a type called hardneck garlic. This type of garlic produces scapes as part of nature’s plan for the plant to propagate itself in the soil. If left unattended, the bulbil on the end of the scape would get bigger and would eventually be so heavy it would fall down and plant itself, thereby propagating a new plant! We’re cultivating garlic, so we plant a clove of garlic from a full sized bulb and use that as a means of growing the plant. Since we don’t need the scape to produce another crop, we go through the field and cut them off the plant so the plant can focus its energy into producing a nice sized bulb instead of a scape.

Roasted Garlic Scape Hummus

Yield: 1 ½ cups

6-7 garlic scapes

2 tsp plus 1 Tbsp olive oil

1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas (one-15 oz can)

¼ cup tahini

Grated zest of 1 organic lemon

2-4 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp raw honey or pure maple syrup

¾ tsp sea salt, plus more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Additional olive oil, for serving*

Smoked paprika, for serving (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut garlic scapes into 1 to 2 inch pieces. You should have about 1 cup once they are cut. Put garlic scapes in a bowl and toss with 2 tsp olive oil. Spread them out on a baking sheet in a single layer and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes, then stir. Roast an additional 5-10 minutes or until the scapes are slightly blistered and just starting to turn brown.
Remove the roasted garlic scapes from the oven and cool slightly before putting them in a food processor. Pulse to finely chop the garlic scapes. Add the chickpeas, tahini, lemon zest and juice, honey or maple syrup, ¾ tsp salt, freshly ground black pepper, and 1 Tbsp olive oil. Blend on highest setting until smooth. You will likely need to add up to ¼ cup warm water to loosen up the mixture so it will blend to a smooth consistency. Taste and add additional salt, lemon juice and black pepper to taste.
Transfer the hummus to a serving bowl, drizzle olive oil over the top, and sprinkle a few pinches of smoked paprika if desired. Serve. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.

Recipe by Andrea Yoder

Lemon Garlic Compound Butter

Yield: ½ cup butter

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

3 garlic scapes

Zest from 1 lemon

Freshly ground black pepper

Cut the garlic scapes into 1-inch pieces. Add the pieces to the bowl of a food processor and chop until fine.
Add the softened butter and the lemon zest to the garlic scapes along with some freshly ground black pepper.
Blend in the food processor until all ingredients are evenly combined.

Storage:

For immediate use, place the compound butter in a jar and store in the fridge for one to two weeks.
For longer storage, store the compound butter in the freezer. To do so, roll it into logs by placing the compound butter on a piece of wax paper or parchment paper. Roll it into a tight log and twist the ends. You can do one large log or you can make two smaller ones. Place the roll(s) of butter into a plastic zipper bag and store in the freezer for up to 2 to 3 months. Alternatively, you can put the butter into small jars or freezer containers and freeze it.

Suggested Uses:

Melt over grilled or sautéed chicken or fish.
Use it to sauté shrimp for scampi.
Use it in scrambled eggs.
Spread on toast, warm bread or biscuits.
Use it to butter cooked or roasted vegetables, such as baby turnips, new potatoes or zucchini.

Recipe adapted slightly from www.relishments.com

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

June 14, 2018 - This Week's Box Contents, Featuring Garlic Scapes

Cooking With This Week’s Box:

This Week’s Summary of Recipes & The Vegetables They Utilize:

Purple Scallions: White Turnip Salad with Miso Ginger Vinaigrette; Spicy Ginger Pork Noodles with Bok Choi

French Breakfast Radishes: Dal with Radish Raita

Head Lettuce: Boston Lettuce Avocado Salad with Lime Dressing

Cilantro: Thai Coconut Soup with Spinach and Garlic Scapes (See Below)

Garlic Scapes: Thai Coconut Soup with Spinach and Garlic Scapes (See Below); Garlic Scape herb spread (See Below); Spicy Ginger Pork Noodles with Bok Choi

Spinach: Thai Coconut Soup with Spinach and Garlic Scapes (See Below); Dal with Radish Raita

Baby Arugula or Saute Mix: Grilled Chicken with Arugula & Warm Chickpeas; Greens & Grains Breakfast Scramble

Baby White Turnips: White Turnip Salad with Miso Ginger Vinaigrette

Hon Tsai Tai OR Bok Choi: Spicy Ginger Pork Noodles with Bok Choi

Zucchini: Summer Squash with Basil Butter

Strawberries: Strawberry Rhubarb Gin Rickey; Strawberry Poppy Seed Vinaigrette; Strawberry Balsamic Grilled Cheese

This week I’d like to start off by welcoming the Peak Season CSA Vegetable Share members! And just in time for the peak season...strawberries! We’re really excited to be kicking off strawberry season this week and want to remind you that this weekend is our annual Strawberry Day event at the farm. The strawberry ice cream is scheduled to arrive on Thursday and Richard’s planning the tour route. We hope you’ll plan on joining us!

This is a busy week, so I’m really looking for quick, easy dishes to prepare. That’s how this Thai Coconut Soup with Spinach & Garlic Scapes (see below) evolved. I haven’t made cream of spinach soup…well, ever. For some reason it sounded good to me this week, but I didn’t have extra cream and I wanted to avoid that overcooked spinach flavor. I ended up going with a Thai coconut soup concept, but I blended fresh, raw garlic scapes and spinach into the flavorful coconut milk broth. This soup is easy and fast to make as well as being flavorful and filling. Garnish it with scallion greens and some of the fresh cilantro in this week’s box and your set.

Spicy Ginger Pork Noodles with Bok Choi

Several years ago we featured a recipe for Spicy Ginger Pork Noodles with Bok Choi. This is the perfect week to make this recipe using hon tsai tai which is an acceptable substitute for the bok choi. You’ll make use of some of the garlic scapes, scallions and cilantro in this recipe. This will make a simple dinner and leftovers are equally as good!

Another blast from the past recipe that crossed my mind this week was my White Turnip Salad with Miso Ginger Vinaigrette. This is a refreshing, light salad that rounds out a simple meal when served with a piece of grilled salmon or chicken. This salad makes use of both the greens and the turnips and is garnished with almonds for a little extra crunch.

This is definitely a week to enjoy salads and here is a recipe that was made for this week’s box contents. This Boston Lettuce Avocado Salad with Lime Dressing will make good use of the head lettuce in this week’s box along with the avocadoes and limes from the fruit box! It also includes cilantro…which just happens to be in this week’s vegetable box as well! This salad will make a nice light lunch along with some crackers and sliced French Breakfast Radishes.

Strawberry Rhubarb Gin Ricky
Photo from Family Style Food

So what are you going to do with the delicious strawberries in this week’s box, and the next few weeks to come? Well, this week I’d recommend using some of them to make a Strawberry Poppy Seed Vinaigrette. This light, sweet dressing will go very nicely on a salad made with either red oak or Boston lettuce. Garnish your salad with some crumbled feta and maybe a few croutons. This would actually be a nice salad to eat with a sandwich, so perhaps you’ll try this recipe for a Strawberry Balsamic Grilled Cheese! Strawberry season doesn’t last long, so you’ll want to eat them while you can! I never considered putting fresh strawberries on a sandwich, but this sounds delicious. The cheese this recipe calls for is similar to medium to sharp cheddar. I think this would be delicious with gouda or a smoked cheddar as well. While we’re talking strawberries, I want to share this cocktail with you as well. If you have any rhubarb left from last week’s box, consider pairing it with some of the strawberries this week to make Strawberry Rhubarb Gin Rickey cocktails to celebrate Father’s Day!

Some boxes this week will include baby arugula and others will have saute mix. If you receive the baby arugula, consider this recipe for Grilled Chicken with Arugula & Warm Chickpeas which will make a delicious, simple dinner. Eat it on the patio with some good crusty bread slathered with Garlic Scape Herb Butter (See below).

If you are looking for another way to put this week’s radishes to use, consider making this Dal recipe with Radish Raita. The radishes add a little zing to the yogurt which is served as a condiment for the dal. This recipe also calls for a generous portion of cooking greens. This is your opportunity to utilize any greens that may be lurking in your refrigerator. Radish or turnip tops, spinach or saute mix, or hon tsai tai would all be appropriate to include in this dish.

Greens & Grains Breakfast Scramble, Photo from epicurios

Well, we’ve almost reached the bottom of another CSA box. We’ve covered lunch and dinners for the week with quite a few dishes ranging from noodles to grilled cheese to soup. Lets not forget to eat well for breakfast too. If you receive saute mix in your box this week instead of arugula, use it to make this simple Greens & Grains Breakfast Scramble. The other delicious, simple vegetable dish I’ve enjoyed for breakfast this week is this recipe for Summer Squash with Basil Butter. Use the zucchini in this week’s box along with basil from your own herb garden! This makes a great vegetable to serve for brunch with eggs, bacon and toast. If you have any left, turn it into a breakfast quesadilla the next day with some Monterey Jack to hold the quesadilla filling together.

Before I close out this week’s Cooking With The Box article, I just want to invite any new peak season members to join our Facebook Group. This is a great forum to converse with other CSA members, share your recipes, ask questions and create a great connection with others in this HVF community of eaters. Have a great week and we look forward to seeing you at Strawberry Day!—Chef Andrea

Vegetable Feature: Garlic Scapes

Garlic scape emerging from the hardneck garlic plant.

Garlic is a staple item in our kitchens, but bulbs of garlic to use in the form of cloves are hard to come by this time of the season. It’s too early for fresh bulbs of garlic and if you have any garlic remaining from last fall, it is likely sprouting by now. Even with a staple ingredient like garlic, we can continue to eat seasonally and locally when we are willing to consider garlic in its other forms. For the past several weeks we’ve enjoyed green garlic. Green garlic is best when it’s young and tender, but as it continues to grow the base starts to become a bulb and the layers of the plant become tough and less than desirable to eat. That’s just the way the garlic grows. Just as we outgrow green garlic, garlic scapes start to form and we take the next step in our seasonal garlic journey.

Garlic scapes are the long, skinny, green vegetable with a lot of curl that you’ll find in this

week’s box. Up until the early 90’s we used to remove scapes from the garlic plant and throw them on the ground! What were we thinking?! We were the first farm in the Midwest to start harvesting the scapes for use as a vegetable, thanks to one of our customers from Korea who asked us to save the garlic scapes for her so she could make pickles. We thought this was odd (remember we used to throw them on the ground), but saved some for her anyway. She was gracious enough to share a jar of pickled scapes with us and that was our introduction to how delicious they are to eat!

Pickled Garlic Scapes

Garlic scapes are a curly shoot that forms on a hardneck garlic plant and grows up from the center of the plant in June. All of our varieties of garlic are hardneck garlic. This type of garlic produces scapes as part of nature’s plan for the plant to propagate itself in the soil. Right now we want the garlic plant to focus its energy into producing a nice bulb of garlic, so we remove the scape from the plant. Nearly the entire scape is edible and is best when harvested young and tender. You may need to trim off the skinny end near the little bulb as it is tough sometimes. Garlic scapes are very tender and do not need to be peeled…Easy! Scapes have a bright, mild garlic flavor. They can be used in any recipe that calls for garlic cloves, just chop them up and add them as you would clove garlic. They can be grilled or roasted, pickled, fermented, and make an awesome pesto such as this Cilantro & Garlic Scape Pesto recipe Dani Lind from Rooted Spoon Culinary shared with us back in 2015. Check out our recipe archive for other delicious recipes utilizing garlic scapes including Pickled Garlic Scapes and Tempura Garlic Scapes. Store your scapes in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use them. They’ll store for 2-3 weeks.

Thai Coconut Soup with Spinach & Garlic Scapes

By Chef Andrea

Yield: 2 quarts

4 cups chicken stock
1 can coconut milk (15-16 oz can)
2 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp maple syrup
¼ tsp red chili flakes
½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp lime juice
8 oz baby spinach
3-4 garlic scapes, cut into 1 inch pieces
Zest of one lime
Cilantro, chopped, to garnish

Put the chicken stock and coconut milk in a medium sized sauce pan along with the minced ginger, fish sauce, soy sauce, maple syrup, chili flakes, ½ tsp salt and black pepper. Bring the liquid to a simmer over medium to medium high heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes, uncovered, to infuse the flavors.
After 10 minutes, remove the coconut milk mixture from heat. The next step is to puree the soup in a blender. If you have a large blender container, you may be able to puree the whole batch of soup at one time. Otherwise you may need to blend the soup in two batches. First put about half of the spinach and the garlic scapes into the blender. Pour the hot coconut milk mixture over the spinach and add the lime juice. Secure the lid on the container and turn the blender on, starting on low speed and gradually increasing. If you are blending everything in one batch, stop, remove the lid and add the remainder of the spinach. If blending in two batches, blend the first batch until the spinach is chopped finely, but there is still a little texture to the mixture. Pour the soup into a bowl and then repeat the process with the remaining spinach.
Once the soup is blended, stir in the lime zest and taste it. Adjust the seasoning to your liking with more salt, pepper and lime juice as needed.
Serve the soup hot with chopped cilantro as a garnish.

Garlic Scape Herb Butter

Photo from Dishing up the Dirt

Yield: 1 cup butter

1 cup (2 sticks) good-quality unsalted butter, softened

1 garlic scape, minced

2 ½ Tbsp minced parsley

2 ½ Tbsp minced dill

½ tsp fresh lemon juice

¼ tsp sea salt

Using a hand mixer or a small food processor, beat together the softened butter, garlic scape, herbs, lemon juice, and salt until well combined. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

This super-simple recipe was borrowed from Andrea Bemis’s book, Dishing Up the Dirt. She serves this butter as a spread for a fresh vegetable platter. This spread would be delicious on a radish sandwich, spread it on toast, use it for your morning eggs, or use it to cook other vegetable in such as sautéed spinach or sautéed baby white turnips with their greens.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

A Box Deconstructed- 6/15/2017

Cooking with This Week’s Box!

“Great cooking is about being inspired by the simple things around you — fresh markets,

various spices. It doesn’t necessarily have to look fancy.”

– G. Garvin

Before we get cooking with this week’s box, I’d like to welcome any new members who are just joining us for the start of our Peak Season Vegetable shares. Please take a moment to read your newsletter and “What’s In the Box” email that accompany each delivery. This is where you’ll find important information about your box contents, recipes, etc. This year we’re trying some new things in the newsletter, including this section which is intended to provide you with some ideas about what you might make with your box contents and, when possible, we’ll also provide you with a link to that recipe.

Ok, lets dive into this week’s box. It’s been a whirlwind of strawberry picking over the past two weeks so I’ve got strawberries on my mind and am thinking a batch of Buttermilk Pancakes with fresh strawberries and whipped cream sounds pretty good for weekend brunch! Farmer Richard always likes bacon with his pancakes so we’ll add that to weekend brunch as well. I’ll set aside a few pieces of cooked bacon though so I can use it to make a Tossed Bacon, Egg and Spinach Salad with a honey-mustard bacon dressing. If you prefer a vegetarian spinach salad option, check out this recipe for a Wilted Spinach Salad with Warm Feta Dressing.

The featured vegetable in this week’s box is garlic scapes. When you see garlic scapes, you know garlic harvest will be coming soon! Use this week’s garlic scapes to make a Creamy Garlic Scape Dressing. This is a recipe flashback to one of our June 2003 newsletters. This recipe can be made thick and used as a dip or thinned out and used as a dressing. The original recipe called for dried dill, but why use dried dill when you have a bunch of fresh dill in this week’s box! Take the outer leaves of the green Boston and tear them into bite sized pieces along with the red oak lettuce. Dress these beautiful lettuces with this creamy garlic scape dressing and top it off with chunks of avocado, a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese and some cooked chicken or salmon to make an entrée salad for lunch or dinner. Use the inner leaves of the Green Boston to make the Butter Lettuce Cups with Peaches and Blue Cheese, featured in our Fruit Share newsletter this week. This is a recipe from the Masumoto Family Farm in California. Either enjoy the salad on its own for a light lunch or dinner or serve it with a grilled pork chop or a slice of ham.

This will be our last week for baby white turnips until our fall plantings come in. I’ve been eating them in salads, but this week I think I’d like to make Braised Turnips and Greens to serve with a piece of broiled fish. If you have some of the fresh dill remaining, chop it up and add it to a little melted butter. Pour it over the fish and finish it with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. It will be a simple yet delicious dinner!

It’s been awhile since I have made Braised Pork Shoulder with Rhubarb-Red Wine Sauce, so I think that will be on the menu this week. This recipe was featured in one of our June 2013 newsletters. Serve this with some simple Sauteed Broccoli Raab or Red Russian Kale for dinner along with a piece of warm, crusty bread to sop up the sauce!

That brings us to the end of this week’s box. I hope to see you at our Strawberry Day party this weekend. If you come, you might get a sneak peak at our zucchini field. Farmer Richard said it’s almost time to start picking! Have a great week!—Chef Andrea

_________________________________________________________________________________

Featured Vegetable: Garlic Scapes

Garlic scapes are the long, skinny, green vegetable with a lot of curl that you’ll find in this week’s box. Up until the early 90’s we used to remove scapes from the garlic plant and throw them on the ground! We were the first farm in the Midwest to start harvesting the scapes for use as a vegetable. In the early 90’s there was a woman from Korea who asked us to save the garlic scapes for her so she could make pickles. We thought this was odd (remember we used to throw them on the ground), but saved some for her anyway. She shared a jar of pickled scapes with us and we realized how good they are for eating! We stopped throwing them away and started eating them!

Garlic scapes are a curly shoot that forms on a hardneck garlic plant, which is the only variety we grow, and grows up from the center of the plant in June. This is part of nature’s plan for the plant to propagate itself. The scape extends from the middle of the plant and forms a small bulb on its end. If left to choose its own destiny, that bulb would eventually fall over and plant itself in the soil. Right now we want the garlic plant to focus its energy into producing a nice bulb of garlic, so we remove the scape from the plant.

Nearly the entire scape is edible and are best when harvested young and tender. You may need to trim off the skinny end near the little bulb as it is tough sometimes. Garlic scapes are very tender and do not need to be peeled….Easy! Scapes have a bright, mild garlic flavor. They can be used in any recipe that calls for garlic cloves, just chop them up and add them as you would clove garlic. They are a great addition to eggs, are tasty when mixed with butter to use as a spread, or toss them into a stir-fry. They’ll keep in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.

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Tempura Garlic Scapes

Yield: 3-4 as an appetizer

1 bunch garlic scapes

3 cups vegetable oil for deep frying

1 egg yolk

1 cup ice water

2-3 ice cubes

1 cup flour, cake or all-purpose

1. Prepare the scapes: Cut off the stringy tip from the flower end. Cut each scape in half or thirds, so that each piece measures about 4 to 6 inches in length.

2. Fill a heavy pot with tall sides (something with a wide opening is ideal) with the oil to a depth of at least one inch. Use a deep fry thermometer to gauge the temperature—it should be steady at 360°F. Maintaining a consistent temperature is important.

3. While the oil is heating, line a sheet pan with paper towels and set aside. Place the egg yolk in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Mix the egg yolk with 1 cup of cold water. Add 1/8 cup of ice cubes.

4. Add 1 cup of flour. Hold four chopsticks with their tips pointed down and stab at the flour to combine it with the liquid until a loose, lumpy batter forms, about thirty seconds. Do not whisk, and do not use a fork—the batter should be barely mixed with pockets of dry flour visible. The liquid will be the consistency of heavy cream.

5. Dip a scape into the batter, then gently lower into the oil. Repeat until there are 5 or 6 scapes in the oil. It is important not to overcrowd the pan. Note: Do not rush through the frying process by crowding the pan—the scapes won’t cook properly.

6. Cook until the batter turns golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes total. Remove the scapes from the oil using a slotted spoon, and place them on the paper towel-lined tray to drain. Season with a pinch of salt immediately, then repeat the dipping and frying with the remaining scapes.

7. Serve immediately with aioli. If you have garlic scapes remaining from last week, you can use them to make Garlic Scape Aioli. The recipe may be found at food52.com as an accompaniment to this recipe.

Photos credit: food52.com

Recipe adapted from Alexandra Stafford’s recipe featured at food52.com

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Garlic Scape Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

4-5 garlic scapes, finely chopped

1 ½ Tbsp dried dill or 3 Tbsp fresh dill

3 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped

2 Tbsp white wine vinegar

Milk, as needed to thin it to desired consistency

1. Mix all ingredients except for the milk in a blender. Blend until all ingredients are well-combined.

2. Add milk as needed to thin it to the desired consistency. If you are using it as a dip or spread, you will want it to be thicker. If you want to use it as a salad dressing, thin it with a little more milk.

3. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Store in the refrigerator.

Photo Credit: Diana Rattray

This recipe may be found on our website in our recipe database. It was originally featured in our June 2003 newsletter and was created by Lee Davenport who was the farm chef!