Roasted Garlic Scapes
It’s an exciting time of year in our vegetable garden when our garlic crop begins producing those mild and delectable scapes. If you don’t grow your own garlic they can be commonly found at farmers markets. Although there are countless ways to incorporate scapes into recipes and various cooking methods, our favorite way is to roast them. By doing so it brings out a most subtle and delicious deep garlicky flavor. We call them garlic scape frites.
Garlic Scape
If left untouched the tip of the scape will develop into a top heavy seed pod laden with several pea-sized seeds. When the seeds mature they will drop to the ground, root themselves, and eventually produce tiny garlic plants. It takes several years before a seed can produce a bulb worth harvesting. If anyone is interested we will post photos of this growing sequence.
Clipping The Scape
Clipping the garlic scapes puts the plant’s energy into the bulb (develops a larger bulb) and not the seeds. We clip the scapes promptly after they curl before the seed head (white tip) puffs out. This ensures tender scapes not tough and stringy ones.
Rinsing Scapes
An Abundance Of Scapes
After the garlic scapes are rinsed they are chopped into 3-4 inch pieces and placed into a large bowl. The arrow is indicating a scape that got away from us and would be too tough when cooked for our liking so we enjoy watching it transform its shape in a vase.
Chopping Scapes
Scapes Drizzled With Olive Oil
A judicious amount of olive oil, kosher salt, and sugar are added to the chopped scapes then tossed and scattered onto a baking sheet. They are placed into a preheated oven at 425 degrees and roasted for approx. 25 min.(we have a large heap) checking and tossing several times with tongs in-between to ensure even roasting.
Roasted Garlic Scapes
We let them roast until the tips get crispy.
A Delicious Side Of Tender Scapes
We love roasted garlic scapes as a side dish with practically anything, this time around they are served with marinated and grilled strip steaks with crispy roasted panko encrusted little red potatoes.
Grilled Strip Steak With Scapes And Roasted Reds
