Great garlic scapes!

(Remove the flower head just above the stem before cooking garlic scapes)

Garlic scapes border on the poetic — their curling heads remind me of swans, preening their necks as they glide along a pond.

Garlic scapes seem to change before my eyes as I watch their growth in the garden to time their demise with my scissors.

(Garlic scapes curl and bend, signaling the near readiness of the bulb underground)

I spotted garlic scapes for sale last week at the farmers market in Poughkeepsie, which got me thinking about the ones in my garden.
So last weekend, I went out and harvested some and thought about what I would do with them.

I had also thinned my rows of Rainbow Chard and wanted to use the young greens in the same recipe (see how lovely the colors are in the stalks in the photo to the right).

It was also a beautiful day, so I wanted to cook outside on the grill.

I quickly made some polenta and figured whatever I came up with would work well piled on top of the polenta and baked on the grill.

Polenta lends itself to so many recipes — it's a great base for vegetables and cheeses; it can be grilled or used soft, fresh from the pan, or baked like a pizza crust.
I like to use a combination of vegetable broth and water in my polenta, and always use Wild Hive Farm's Stone-Ground Organic Fancy Polenta, Donald Lewis' wonderful micro-milled organic grains grown right here and processed in the Hudson Valley. I can usually find it at Adams Fairacre Farm in Poughkeepsie.

Check out an older post of mine for the recipe by clicking here.

(Garlic scapes remind me of notes on a scale in this photo or perhaps a series of bass clefs)

Here is the recipe I came up with after pondering the beauty and wonder of freshly picked produce and the joy of using organic polenta as my base:

(The polenta pie cooked handsomely on the grill, raised up a bit by inverting my grill wok)

Great Garlic Scape-Swiss Chard Polenta Pie

One recipe for polenta

Snip the garlic scapes just below the blossom heads.


Blanch them in boiling water for about a minute; then shock them in cold water.

Drain the scapes on a plate.

Chop the scapes into 1-2-inch lengths and saute in a skillet with a little olive oil.

Add the baby swiss chard and saute a little longer.
Season with a little salt, freshly ground pepper and a splash of Tamari.

Spread the polenta into a baking pan with sides that has been liberally wiped with olive oil.

Layer some thin slices of homemade mozzarella on top.
Dollop a little bit of homemade tomato sauce on top of that.
Add the sauteed vegetable mixture next.
Finish with some crumblings of gorgonzola cheese.

Bake in a preheated grill for about 25 minutes until nicely browned and bubbly.

I served it with a side of turnip greens that I had also thinned that day. They were outrageously good as a side dish.
I blanched them a bit in boiling water, then drained and added them to a saute of garlic, diced onions and olive oil. I flashed them in the pan for a while and finished it off with a splash of balsamic vinegar.
They were so tasty and made a great complement to the polenta pie.


I'd love to hear about more ways to use garlic scapes in recipes (tempura, anyone?).

If you have a favorite way of making them, share it here or e-mail me at bfarrell@poughkeepsiejournal.com.