Garlic Scape Pesto

Confession: I feel as though I owe you a second recipe this week, given how blah the last one turned out.

And boy, do I ever have a good one for you! This is so amazing and downright addicting in fact that you may decide to forego the agonizing delay of enjoyment it causes you to take the time to spread this pesto on a cracker and just go at it with a spoon. Or a finger. Not that I have done that. I admit to nothing. Ahem.

Anyhoo, what the heck is a garlic scape? If you, like me, have spent most of your adult life buying produce in a grocery store, you may never have seen or heard of garlic scapes before. Simply put, a garlic scape is the green shoot that a garlic bulb produces as it begins to mature. It looks very much like a green onion and has a milder flavor than a garlic clove.



Farmers cut off the scapes because a scape left attached will stunt the growth of the garlic bulb, which of course is the part that is harvested and we purchase in the store as garlic. Garlic scapes are not merely edible, but are absolutely delicious! You can use them as you would green onions in any recipe. Hie thee to thy nearest farmers market and grab a bunch! You will not be disappointed, I promise.

One of the best uses I know for garlic scapes is to make a garlic scape pesto. It can be used on crackers, spread on bread as a condiment, used as a pizza or pasta sauce, dolloped on soups or salads, or just enjoyed with a spoon.

This is a recipe I conjured up off the top of my head. It's a little of this, a little of that, more art than science, following pretty much every pesto recipe I've ever seen. The basil serves to balance out the garlic flavor with an earthy freshness, and the walnuts and parmesan play off each other to add depth and richness to the pesto. I'm in love... I hope you will be, too!

Garlic Scape Pesto

1 bunch garlic scapes - a handful or so of long shoots, adjust to your taste*
1/4 c. fresh basil leaves**
1/2 c. walnuts
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/3 - 2/3 c. olive oil
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Roughly chop the garlic scapes and basil. Add to the bowl of a food processor and pulse for a few moments until they are finely chopped but not fully ground.





Add walnuts, cheese, salt and pepper, and grind until everything is coming together in a paste.



With the processor running, drizzle in olive oil until the pesto has reached the desired consistency. I like mine thicker, with less oil.




That's it! Enjoy any which way you desire.



*Absolutely everything in this recipe should have a note that says "to taste" - there is no right or wrong here!

**I used a combination of regular flat leaf basil and a variety called Cinnamon Basil that I have growing in pots in my yard. Just use whatever looks fresh and smells delicious at your market.

I've put about 2/3 of the batch in a freezer container, topped with a little extra oil to prevent oxidation (this is mostly to prevent me from eating the entire batch right now). I plan to pull it out and use it again later this summer and I'll update the post at that time with how it fared in the freezer. I'm hopeful that it will be fine; most of the articles I've read on pesto say the freezer is no challenge.


If you try this, let me know in the comments how it turned out!

In the meantime, I'm going to eat the rest of it with soup for supper and head back to my CSA farm to pick up some more scapes before they are gone for good!

Red Curry Coconut Noodles

Confession: I've had my first vegetarian "meh".

I am willing to accept part of the blame for the forgettableness (is that a word?) of this recipe, since I didn't follow it to a "T", but I'm sure some of it has to do with the recipe itself.

At first glance, it seemed to have everything going for it - thai flavors, including curry, ginger, cilantro and coconut. A good mix of veggies and noodles. A little spice and intrigue. But the resulting sauce was simply too heavy, rich and thick. Not at all the light thai noodle dish I had envisioned.

What did I do wrong? Well, it's possible that the noodles I used (the grocery store was out of traditional rice noodles, so I used rice spaghetti) added too much starch to the sauce, and that combined with the additional cooking time the noodles needed thickened it much more than the recipe intended. But the other issue is that the recipe calls for 2 entire cans of coconut milk - the real deal, not the light stuff - which is just overload for me.

Not one to give up after a setback, I do plan to make this dish again with a few adjustments to see if I can rescue the recipe from the pile of papers designated for the recycle bin. Next time I will find real quick cooking rice noodles, use one can of light coconut milk and add extra vegetable stock if it needs more liquid. I will also add more curry paste and a little more ginger, just to hammer home the flavor profile.

Here's the recipe as I made it. Given the rave reviews on the site it's from, I'm holding out hope that I could make it better next time. If you make it and it turns out great, please tell me what you did!

Red Curry Coconut Noodles

2 cans Coconut Milk
2 teaspoons Red Curry Paste
1 Tablespoon Ginger (fresh, Grated)
1 Tablespoon Cilantro (fresh, Chopped)
¼ cups Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
16 oz Vegetable Broth (have more on hand, trust me)
1 package Rice Noodles (I used rice spaghetti - I do NOT recommend it!)
1 whole Onion
2 whole Red or Green Bell Peppers
1 cup Broccoli Slaw
Salt To Taste

Julienne your peppers and onions. Set aside. Start with a large pot over medium-high heat. Scoop the cream off the top of the coconut milk, and put into the pot. The cream will be used as the “fat” instead of oil or butter. Along with the cream, add the curry paste and ginger. Let this simmer for 1 minute.




Then add the rest of what is in the coconut milk cans, sweet Thai chili sauce, cilantro, and vegetable broth. Bring this to a simmer.



Then add your julienned veggies, slaw and rice noodles (on the advice of some of the recipe reviewers, I used only 1/2 pkg of noodles). Simmer this. You will see the broth slowly thicken as the rice noodles absorb it. It should only take about 5 minutes for the rice noodles to be cooked through. (This took me at least 15 minutes due to the spaghetti noodles)




Pull the pot off the heat, and let sit for about 5 minutes. It will thicken during this time. Then, it’s done. Slurp these noodles out of big noodle bowls! Garnish it with a bit more cilantro and some Sriracha.



Note: I also rubbed some tofu with the curry paste and sauteed it to throw on top of the dish as added protein. The dogs loved the tofu. Me, not so much. I'm still working on the whole tofu thing...more on this to follow.

Double Broccoli Quinoa

Confession: I am a recipe hoarder.

I have pages and pages of recipes torn from magazines and printed from the web. Recipes that I doubt I'll ever get around to making, but they just look so enticing that I am unable to recycle or delete them. So many, in fact, that I could probably make a new recipe twice a week for the rest of my life and never have to lift a food magazine again. But lift them I do. And subscribe to them, I feel I must. It borders on obsession.

Every now and then, I will actually make one of the recipes in the pile, and it lives up to my expectations so well that I wonder why on earth it took me so long to do it. This is one of those recipes.

If you don't know much about quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah), you are missing out! I fell in love with quinoa the first time I used it in a recipe for tabouleh. It's nutty, it's easy and quicker to boil than rice, and the nutritional value is off the charts! I'll pause for a moment while you read this article as a primer. There! Notice the awesome recipe there too? Sigh. Another one for my pile o' paper.

I made this exactly as written, so I decided to simply paste the recipe in its entirety below. I topped the finished quinoa with a little avocado and found it was just about perfect. The punch of the lemon juice and garlic are offset deliciously by the smooth toasted almonds and the subtle richness of the cream.

If you have leftovers, you can freeze the quinoa and broccoli florets separately and they both reheat well.

Double Broccoli Quinoa - stolen from 101 Cookbooks
3 cups cooked quinoa*
5 cups raw broccoli, (about 3 large heads) cut into small florets and stems
3 medium garlic cloves
2/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted (I toasted them in a skillet)
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 big pinches salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup heavy cream

Optional toppings: slivered basil, fire oil (optional)**, sliced avocado, crumbled feta or goat cheese

Heat the quinoa and set aside.

Now barely cook the broccoli by pouring 3/4 cup water into a large pot and bringing it to a simmer. Add a big pinch of salt and stir in the broccoli. Cover and cook for a minute, just long enough to take the raw edge off. Transfer the broccoli to a strainer and run under cold water until it stops cooking. Set aside.


To make the broccoli pesto, puree two cups of the cooked broccoli, the garlic, 1/2 cup of the almonds, Parmesan, salt, and lemon juice in a food processor. Drizzle in the olive oil and cream and pulse until smooth.


Just before serving, toss the quinoa and remaining broccoli florets with about 1/2 of the broccoli pesto. Taste and adjust if needed, you might want to add more of the pesto a bit at a time, or you might want a bit more salt or an added squeeze of lemon juice.

Turn out onto a serving platter and top with the remaining almonds, a drizzle of the chile oil, and some sliced avocado or any of the other optional toppings.

Serves 4 - 6.

*To cook quinoa: rinse one cup of quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer. In a medium saucepan heat the quinoa, two cups of water (or broth if you like), and a few big pinches of salt until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa fluffs up, about 15 minutes. Quinoa is done when you can see the curlique in each grain, and it is tender with a bit of pop to each bite. Drain any extra water and set aside.

Rhubarb and Red Onion Chutney

Confession: I will never be a vegan because it would mean I'd have to give up cheese.

I love cheese. All kinds of cheese. Hard cheeses, stinky cheeses, soft and spreadable mild cheeses. If it's cheese, I'll eat it. But you can't just go around eating cheese all day and nothing else, can you? So I've found creative excuses to eat more cheese, like making a chutney and buying a loaf of crusty bread. Cheese, fruit, bread - now THAT's a balanced meal. I'm only kind-of kidding.

My CSA farmer, Mark, had some absolutely gorgeous rhubarb this week,



so I decided to try a new recipe for a sweet, tart and surprisingly bold Rhubarb and Red Onion Chutney that I found here.

As far as recipes go, this could not be more simple. Chop up your rhubarb and onions, throw them in a pot with the other ingredients and simmer until it looks right. And the smell! Wow! The onion and ginger take over your entire kitchen - but press on, my friend - the end result is definitely worth the temporary olfactory overload.

I doubled the recipe to have enough to eat, share and freeze.

Rhubarb & Red Onion Chutney

1 lb rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 red onion, roughly chopped
1/2 cup prunes (or raisins), roughly chopped
1-inch piece of ginger, grated
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Toss all the ingredients in a large pot over medium heat.



Simmer for about 1 hour, until all the ingredients have mushed together to form a mostly smooth texture (a few lumps and chunks are ok).

Remove from heat and let cool. Spoon into a few jars and store in refrigerator for up to a week* or the freezer for up to 6 months.

Hmmm, what to do with this delectable tangy concoction? I think a panini is in order! I took a piece of rustic ciabatta, a slice of havarti**, a schmear of chutney and some freshly cracked pepper and threw it on the panini press. Hello, heaven!

*This will probably keep much longer than a week in the fridge.
**Havarti? Sure. But you can pick your poison - goat cheese, a sharp white cheddar, a bit of bleu if you're feeling adventurous, or maybe a combination?

Mark told me he harvests his rhubarb in such a way that it keeps coming back all season. Do you have a favorite rhubarb recipe you'd like to share? If so, leave it in the comments, won't you?