Garlic Scapes and New Potatoes

My potatoes are a few weeks from being ready in the garden, but my garlic scapes are prime.  Scapes for those who do not know, are the stalks that shoot out the top of your garlic plants the last week of June(here in Canada).  At the top will be the potential seed head.  For years we just cut these off our plants and composted them back into the soil (seed development robs from the bulb size, so you sacrifice them for the cause).  However, someone suggest to us that we were throwing away one of the better parts of the garlic plant.  Scapes are wonderfully mild garlic flavoured, and can be fried by themselves in butter, or added to potatoes.  That is the recipe of choice for today.  I had to go and buy new potatoes at the supermarket, but they were surprisingly tasty, although not the caliber my own will be in a few short weeks.

Scapes in the garden

The Ingredients:

4 lbs of new red potatoes

1 large cooking onion

1/2 red bell pepper

Garlic scapes

2 Jalapeno peppers

Fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1. Wash the potatoes and cut them into bite-sized chunks.  Place in a sauce pan, cover with water and bring to a boil for 15 minutes until tender, but not mushy.  Drain.

Curly garlic scapes, ready to cook.

2. Slice up the onion, and separate into rings. Chop the red bell pepper. Core and slice the Jalapeno peppers.  Cut the scapes into short pieces.  Put olive oil in a skillet and add the vegetables.  Saute, until tender, but still colourful.

3.  Add the potatoes to the vegetables.  Allow the potatoes to brown, being careful to turn regularly, for even browning, but not burning.

Mmmmm!

And that is about all I have to say for today.

Musings and meanderings from the Musical Gardener.