Here's a garlic scape recipe that my friend Georgina sent to me, and I immediately wanted to make it. I had given Georgina a bunch of scapes we had harvested from our garlic plants, and she sent me a photo of the scape frittata she made. Hence this video.
What I like about this garlic scape recipe is it moves scapes beyond the usual sauteed garlic scapes, which we have a video of here, into an area i had not thought of. But then it became obvious to me that garlic scapes can be substituted into many recipes that call for scallions or chives.
Raw, garlic scapes have a bit of a bite, but when cooked, they mellow out. We use them in a pesto recipe raw, but I usually cook them down in a pan with some olive oil when used in other dishes.
When harvesting garlic scapes, be sure to get them before it uncurls. That's when the stem gets woody. You want the young immature flower and stem. If you grab them when it unfurls, you wont like the taste or the hard stem. If you don't grow your own garlic, you can usually find garlic scapes in your Farmers Market in late spring and early summer. If you belong to a CSA, there's a good chance you will find them in your allotment box at some point.
To get the garlic smell off your hands after handling scapes, or garlic in general, grab a stainless steel spoon or similar tool, and rub your hands over the spoon under running water. Not sure how it does it, but the stainless steel removes the garlic smell from your hands. We'll have to find out what that happens.
Below is our Garlic Scape Recipe, let us know your thoughts and suggestions for more scape recipes!
Egg Frittatta Garlic Scape Recipe
5 or 6 eggs
1 cup of chopped garlic scapes, ½" long
2 slices of bacon - optional
Parmesan Cheese to taste
2 tablespoons of milk
If using, cook the bacon in an 9" oven proof fry pan, set the bacon aside and drain off most of the bacon fat, leave about a tablespoon.
With the pan still hot, toss in the garlic scapes and cook them down to your liking. I like them brown
Put the scapes in a bowl and crumble the bacon into the bowl.
Add a few glugs of olive oil into the pan, and pour in the eggs. Add the scapes and bacon on top of the eggs. Don't touch.
Turn down the heat and let the eggs cook slowly. It should be 5-6 minutes, mbe more depending on how many eggs.
Fire up the broiler and place the pan under the broiler to cook the top of the Frittata, I like to brown the top, but careful not to brown it.
Slice the frittata into wedges, and sprinkle with some cheese or add dollops of goat cheese.
Serve warm or cold.
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