Roasted or {Grilled} Garlic Scapes with Sea Salt

Ingredients: 

• 1 bunch garlic scapes
• olive or coconut oil
• sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash and dry your scapes. Break off the harder ends {as you would like asparagus} and cut into thirds. Drizzle a light amount of oil on the scape and sprinkle it with sea salt. Roast at 400 for about 15 minutes; flip over half way through. The scapes are scrumptious to eat when soft and golden brown.

To grill, prepare the same way with the oil and sea salt but do not cut them into thirds. Leave whole, toss on the grill and remove when soft and golden brown.

For more information and recipes from Sherrie visit her blog, With Food + Love

Quinoa Potato Salad

This riff on a potato salad made a wonderful summer meal.  Made without mayonnaise, it would easily transport to a potluck and is delicious warm, at room temperature, and cold.  It improves with a few days in the fridge as the vinaigrette soaks into the potatoes, making it ideal for leftovers!

Ingredients:
8 medium yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut in large cubes
1/2 c cooked, unseasoned quinoa
3 garlic scapes, chopped (you can substitute a mix of scallions and garlic when scapes aren't in  
       season)
1/2 cup peas
2 Tbps chopped fresh mint
white wine vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1.  Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with water.  Boil under tender, approximately 20 minutes.  Drain the water.

2.  While the potatoes are boiling, saute the garlic scapes in a generous amount of olive oil in a large saute pan.  Add the peas and cook just a moment more until tender.  Season generously with salt and pepper.  Stir in white wine vinegar to taste to make a warm vinaigrette.  Stir in the mint and the quinoa.  Stir in the potatoes, coating generously with the quinoa-soaked vinaigrette.       

Sauteed Garlic Scapes & Summer Squash

Ingredients:
1 zucchini
1 yellow summer squash
1-2 garlic scapes
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt & coarse ground pepper to taste

1. Wash and thinly slice squash into medallions. I sliced my about 1/8 inch thick. Whatever thickness you cut them, make sure it is uniform so they cook at the same speed.

2. Heat a good drizzle of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-low heat.

3. Once the oil is warmed, add in the squash and cook for 2-3 minutes while flipping every so often.

4. While the squash is cooking prepare your scapes. Make a cut just under the base of the flower and discard. Cut the scapes into 1-2 inch long sections. Toss the scapes in with the squash, give the pan a good shake to mix in the scapes well. Add a splash more olive oil if necessary. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook for another 5-7 minutes. The squash should be tender [browning a bit] and the scapes should turn bright green. Sauteing scapes is similar to cooking asparagus. You don't want to overcook it, or it'll become stringy.

Tip: I put leftovers of this saute into the refrigerator and for lunch the next day I discovered it to be fantastic as a cold summer salad. I sprinkled on a handful of freshly chopped mint from my garden and and dug in. Yum!

LIVING SIMPLY GLUTEN FREE

Garlic Scape Green Goddess Dressing

From Teaspoon of Spice. See original post here. 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup Greek non fat yogurt
• 1 cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley
• 2 garlic scapes, roughly chopped (or 1 garlic clove, peeled)
• 1/2 avocado, pit and skin removed
• 1 teaspoon orange muscat vinegar
• Juice from 1/2 of a lime
• Water (to thin dressing)
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 
  

Directions

1. In a food processor, add yogurt, parsley, garlic scapes, avocado, vinegar and lime juice. Process until smooth.
2. For a thinner dressing, add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and process until at a desired consistency.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Garlic Scape Hummus

Today's Recipe is Garlic Scape Hummus and comes from Brown Eyed Baker. It's quite easy and perfect for snacking.

Ingredients

-1/3 cup sliced garlic scapes
-1 tablespoon lemon juice
-½ teaspoon sea salt
-Ground black pepper (to taste)
-1 can (15-ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
-¼ cup olive oil

Directions

- In the bowl of a food processor, process the garlic scapes, lemon juice, sea salt and black pepper until finely chopped, scraping the sides as needed.
- Add the beans and process to a rough puree (the beans will be just about completely mashed).
- With the machine running, slowly pour in the olive oil and process until smooth. Check the consistency; if it is still thick and paste-like, you can add 2 or 3 tablespoons of water to thin it out a bit. Taste, and add more salt and pepper, if desired. Serve with your favorite vegetables, pita chips, etc.

Lentil Soup with Kale

101 Cookbooks, from which I've adapted the following lentil soup recipe, is one of my favorite resources to use when looking for a new recipe to try. Heidi Swanson initially conceived the website as a way to record recipes she cooked from her vast cookbook collection. Swanson is also the author of two cookbooks herself, including Super Natural Cooking and Super Natural Every Day.

Lentil Soup with Kale (adapted from this 101 Cookbooks recipe)

makes 6-8 generous servings

6 C water

2 C green lentils, picked through and rinsed

2 t olive oil

1/2 white onion, chopped

1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1/4 C chopped garlic scapes

1/2 C chopped white mushrooms

1 28-ounce can organic fire roasted diced tomatoes

1 C water

1 C low-sodium organic vegetable broth

3 C loosely packed (torn) kale leaves (I just tore the leaves from the stalks into bite-sized pieces)

1. Bring a large pot of water (6 cups) to a boil. Add in the lentils and cook until softened, about 20-25 minutes.

2. While the lentils are cooking, heat a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil to the bottom of the pot and saute the onions with the salt until softened. Add in the chopped garlic scapes and mushrooms and saute for several more minutes.

3. Stir in the fire-roasted tomatoes, water, and veggie broth. Decrease the heat and allow the mixture to simmer.

4. Add in the cooked lentils and simmer for a few more minutes.

5. Stir in the kale and cook for one to two minutes more.

6. Spoon each serving into a bowl. Top with a drizzle of olive oil or small dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream.

Garlic Scapes!

Looking for something to do with 8-9 garlic scapes? Look no further. Here's a great recipe for pesto. I tried this last week in the food processor - easy, fast and delicious over pasta with some grape tomatoes tossed on top.

Ingredients:

8-9 garlic scapes, flowery part removed, cut to 1/4 inch pieces

1/3 cup walnuts

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4-1/2 cup grated parmigiano

1/2 tsp salt

black pepper to taste

Directions:

Put scapes and walnuts in the food processor and process until mostly smooth

Drizzle oil into bowl slowly

Spoon into bowl

Add parmigiano to taste

Add salt & pepper