Garlic Scape Pesto!

Garlic Scapes

June is the month for garlic scapes, the flowering stalk and immature flower head of the garlic plant. Garlic scapes taste very much like garlic cloves but are a little less intense. 

Following is a recipe for garlic scape pesto adapted from epicurious.com  from Ian Knauer's book The Farm :

This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups of pesto which can be mixed with pasta, rice, quinoa or spread on little toasts or crackers.

Needed:

10 garlic scapes

1/3 cup unsalted pistachios (you can use any nut/seed here, we used sunflower seeds)

1/3 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Reserve the oil, salt and pepper. Puree all the other ingredients in a food processor or blender (it helps to chop the scapes before putting them in). With the motor running, slowly begin pouring the oil through the opening and continue until you've poured in all the oil. The mixture will be fairly thick when you're finished. Salt and pepper to taste. The pesto will keep for a week in the fridge or frozen for a month.

To use, prepare a batch of pasta, rice, quinoa etc. and mix the pesto in to taste. Alternatively it can be used as a spread. Delicious!

Sorrel Omelet and Puree of Sorrel and Potatoes

Herb - Sorrel

We love adding sorrel to our scrambled eggs and omelets. Anton grew up eating sorrel thanks to his French mother as it's widely eaten in France as a traditional spring green. Sorrel is sometimes called sour grass and we think you'll find it to have a refreshing flavor. We saute' the sorrel in melted butter and add it to the eggs which are best when just set. You can add anything you want to them. Avocado, sorrel, or crab meat are our favorites.

Here's a recipe for Sorrel Omelet/Scrambled Eggs:

Sorrel omelet:

Start by slicing your sorrel into thin slivers, use the stems too, just discard the very ends.

Take out the frying pan you'll use for the omelet and melt 1teaspoon to 1tablespoon butter (to your taste) and add salt and pepper to your taste.

When the butter is melted, add the sorrel and stir it into the butter. It will wilt and turn an unpleasant green color--this is normal!

Once all the sorrel has changed color (about 10-20 seconds) put it aside into a bowl.

Mix up your favorite omelet recipe and add to the same frying pan the sorrel was cooked in.

After the egg mixture is in the pan, spread the sorrel evenly on top by dropping it in by spoonfuls over the cooking omelet.

Puree of Sorrel and Potatoes

from: The Norman Table by Claude Guermont

This is another one of our favorite ways to eat sorrel.

Serves 2-3

3 tablespoons butter

1 bunch sorrel coarsely chopped

1/4 cup sliced onions

2 cups

3/4 cups potatoes, washed peeled, and coarsely chopped

Salt and pepper

1. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan (the same one you'll use to cook the soup). Add the chopped sorrel leaves and cook until they turn dark green.

2. Add the sliced onions and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring well.

3. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Add the chopped potatoes , cover, and simmer for approximately 30-40 minutes (until everything is tender).

4. Remove the soup from the heat and puree in a blender, food mill, or food processor.

5. Season to taste with salt and pepper.