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Category: Garlic

  • Mushroom Broccoli “Scampi”

    This is a vegetarian version of classic shrimp scampi. I used delicious mushrooms from Hazel Dell and sprouting broccoli to stand in for shrimp but stuck with the familiar-wine, butter, garlic sauce. (CSA members can add a mushroom share to their subscriptions.)

    I added sprouting broccoli because all the shrimp scampi recipes called for a pound to a pound and a half of shrimp and I only had a half a pound of mushrooms so I added about 1 pound of broccoli. You could use all mushrooms, asparagus or kohlrabi here too, adjust the amounts called for with what you like and what you have.

    This was a really fast meal to pull together. It was done faster than I could boil water and cook pasta.

    Mushroom Broccoli ‘Scampi’ generously adapted from a NYT recipe, my changes are in parentheses

    2 tablespoons unsalted butter
    2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
    1 shallot, thinly sliced (didn’t use)
    1½ pounds cremini or button mushrooms (I used 1/2 pound of mixed lions main and shitake mushrooms and about a pound of sprouting broccoli)
    4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (I used garlic scapes)
    ½ cup dry white wine (I always use vermouth in recipes calling for white wine, its shelf stable and neutral, unlike lots of white wine)
    ½ cup vegetable stock or water (I used stock)
    Pepper and salt
    ¼ teaspoon red-pepper flakes
    ½ cup parsley leaves (I used spinach more like 2 cups)
    3 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice

    Heat a large skillet over medium melt the butter and oil, then add the garlic, stirring until softened slightly, about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are soft but still plump, 3 to 5 minutes.

    Add the broccoli and wine and stock or water.

    Let that cook for 3-5 minutes and add the spinach or parsley. You don’t want to cook the spinach or parsley too much, just wilt it. Then add the lemon juice a little at a time, taste before you add more, you don’t want it too lemony, taste for salt too.

    Add the red pepper if you are using it. You can eat this with any grain or bread or pasta.

    We ate it with pasta. I used 1/2 pound of pasta for the above amounts and it would feed 4 people IMO. The leftovers make a delicious pasta salad.

    Lots of vegetable options this week. Summer is here!

    Mo

  • Garlic Fried Rice

    This is for all you garlic lovers out there. Garlic is the star here. The oil used for ‘frying’ the rice is infused by roasting garlic in the oil first, then removing it and using the infused oil to ‘perfume’ the rest of the ingredients.

    This is so good with shrimp or fish but really it will compliment any roasted vegetable or protein. Or just eat it alone.

    I wrote down measurements but you can adjust the amounts to your needs.

    I had-

    • 8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
    • 1/4 to 1/3 cup neutral tasting oil – you want to coat the bottom of the pan you are using so the garlic ‘floats’. It will burn if you don’t use enough oil and you want to coat the rice with the yummy oil.
    • Salt to taste
    • 2 inch piece ginger, peeled, finely chopped
    • 1 large egg, beaten
    • 3 – 4 cups chilled cooked white or brown rice
    • 2 tsp. toasted sesame oil (optional)
    • 4 scallions, thinly sliced on a diagonal (optional)
    • 2 tsp. toasted sesame seeds (optional)

    Heat the oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat and add the garlic slices in one layer.

    Let them gently sizzle until they are brown, don’t let them burn. Fish them out with a slotted spoon as they brown onto a plate. See my plate to the right of the pan with the browned garlic?

    When they are all brown and removed from the pan (leave all the oil) add the chopped ginger.

    And the beaten egg, rice, scallions and sesame oil if using.

    Carefully mix it all up make sure the oil has coated everything. Now smoosh it into the pan to so the bottom can crisp up a little and turn it over once or twice to brown it all.

    When you are happy with the crispness add a few of the roasted garlic slices back and taste for salt or if you want more garlic. I used about 1/2 the garlic. I’ll save the rest for another dish.

    I added some hot sauce in the above picture. MMmmm, mmmmm.

    I hope you try this simple dish.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

  • Fried Beans with Sorrel and Green Garlic

    I love sorrel. I love sorrel with eggs. I love sorrel mixed in with any sautéed greens or added to a salad. It brings a bright flavor, more mild and more interesting than lemon.

    I followed this David Lebovitz recipe pretty much to the letter except I used green garlic instead of green onions. I’ll copy the recipe at the end of this post.

    What makes this dish special is frying the cooked beans. Frying them makes them crispy on the outside and creamy inside and just a little chewy and very satisfying. The sorrel brightens the dish and the green garlic rounds it out.

    This is all you need to make this; some beans (I cooked my beans, I’m sure you could use canned) a bunch of sorrel and I added pea shoots too, and some green garlic or onions and lemon.

    The recipe as written sounds a little complicated, but all you are really doing is frying the beans in oil and butter, the butter browns the beans so if you use only oil they won’t brown as much.

    Then sauté some greens and garlic or onions and mix them together and add a squeeze of lemon.  You really don’t need a recipe.

    We ate ours with an egg and some crushed almonds and feta and fresh mint.

    Have a great week. See you at pickup.

    Mo

    Fried Beans with Feta, Sorrel, and Sumac
    Four to six servings
    Adapted from Plenty (Ebury) by Yotam Ottolenghi

    Yotam’s original recipe says to soak the beans in a generous amount of water with 2 tablespoons of baking soda. Some bean purists scoff at using baking soda in the water, but for those who live in areas where the water is full of minerals (such as Paris), I add a large pinch to the cooking water, as the locals do. The beans should be cooked just until tender, but not cooked to mush. The cooking time for them will vary but don’t let the water
    foam up when you do! For the spring onions, I used cébette (which often goes by
    various names in France), which you can see pictured in the Herbed Ricotta Tart
    recipe. Scallions, green garlic, or a similar spring onion can be used. In the post, I
    mention some possible substitutions for the sumac and sorrel.

    1 pound (450g) large dried white beans
    optional: pinch of baking soda
    8 spring onions or scallions sliced lengthwise into 3-inch (7 cm) batons
    1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
    7 ounces (200g) sorrel, cut into 1-inch (2 cm) ribbons, plus a little extra for garnish,
    cut in very thin strips
    1/2 teaspoon sea salt, plus more for seasoning
    1 1/2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
    5 ounces (150g) feta cheese
    2 teaspoons sumac
    handful of fresh herbs such as chervil, dill, mint, or flat-leaf parsley
    For frying the beans:
    1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
    4 tablespoons (60g) butter (see Note)

    1. Rinse the beans and sort to remove any foreign objects.
    2. Put in a large pot, cover with plenty of water, and let stand overnight.
    3. The next day, add a pinch of baking soda to the water (if you live in a hard water
    area), and simmer the beans until just tender. The cooking time may be as little as
    30 minutes, or over an hour, depending on the beans. Add additional water if
    necessary.
    4. Once cooked, drain well and toss them in a bit of olive oil, which will prevent the
    skin of the beans from flaking, and bit of salt.

  • Fresh Garlic

    Unless you grow your own garlic or belong to a CSA you may never have seen or eaten fresh garlic.

    IMG_3089

    Garlic you buy or that you will get in the next few weeks is dried (cured) for about 2 or 3 weeks so it will store safely. The garlic you got last week and will get this week was harvested within a day or two of you getting it and should be used in a week or 10 days.

    See how fresh that is?

    IMG_3090

    IMG_3099

    Fresh garlic has a vibrant-mild ‘soft’ flavor much like garlic scapes and green garlic. You can use fresh garlic in any garlic recipe and you can use much more of it because it is so mild.

    I like to peel then simmer my garlic in olive oil for about 20 minutes and store it in a jar in the refrigerator.

    I use it to cook greens or spread it on toasted bread. Fresh garlic is great in Caesar Salads.  I was poking around our site here and found an old recipe Lauren posted that looks delicious and  would be great made with fresh garlic.

    Maybe I’ll make that with the garlic I get this week.

    Hope you are all well. Have a great week, I’ll see you at pickup.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

  • Pea Shoot and Green Garlic Pesto

    I love Pesto!! I love Pesto made from almost anything green. Arugula,  Collards, Sorrel, and of course Basil.

    This week I wanted some pesto and it is too early for basil and I ate my arugula so I found myself eyeing a bag of pea shoots in the vegetable bin and I also saw some green garlic lurking next to the pea shoots…that is about all I needed to make pesto; something green, garlic, and oil. If I have some nuts or seeds and hard cheese like Parmesan I use it, but it isn’t necessary.

    This is what I had. Let’s make some pesto!

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    Pea Shoot and Green Garlic Pesto

    • 1/3 of a cup of nuts or seeds. I had toasted walnuts
    • About 3 cups of pea shoots
    • Green garlic, I used about 1/3 cup
    • 1/3 olive oil. You might want a little more
    • 1/3 to 1/2 cup of hard cheese like Parmesan-optional
    • salt and pepper

    DIRECTIONS

    In a food processor or blender, combine nuts, pea shoots, Parmesan and garlic. Pulse until roughly chopped. Add salt. With motor running, slowly drizzle in olive oil. Blend until well-combined and it is the thickness you like.

    Scrape the pesto into a bowl and use immediately, or store in a jar with a thick covering of olive oil and use within three days. You can also freeze in ice cube trays or zip-lock bags. This makes a little more than a cup.

    This pea shoot pesto was very different than any pesto I have made, or had before. Usually I think of pesto as a sort of a ‘punch in the face’ from strong flavored herbs like basil, arugula and sorrel and the garlic in most pesto is usually very hot.

    This pea shoot pesto is pleasantly mild and grassy in a good way and the green garlic is very mild, both were really nice with the olive oil I used. I could taste all the ingredients, I really liked that.

    I made a grilled cheese and pesto sandwich and also some pesto deviled eggs. I like to use pesto as a condiment like mayonnaise or ketchup.

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    Have a great week. I hope you are enjoying your CSA. Leave a comment or question if you have any.

    It’s so great to see you all at pick-up, even if I can’t see your smile I can see your eyes and they speak volumes. We feel your support and gratitude and that means the world to us.

    Be well.

    Mo

     

     

     

     

  • Green Garlic Toast

    I saw this recipe on another CSA news letter and knew I had to make it.  I love compound butters  (scroll down about halfway on that page to see ideas on compound butters) and I love green garlic.

    This was so delicious. The mild green garlic was so good I can’t get enough.

    I followed the recipe exactly except I didn’t rub the clove of garlic on the toast. I felt the green garlic was enough garlic for me.  I also put some roasted Hazel Dell mushrooms on 1/2 of the garlic toast, and that just gilded the lily.

    IMG_3277

    Green garlic has such a short season enjoy it while you can.

    I hope you try this.

    Mo

     

  • Easy Green Garlic and Greens Risotto

    This is a really easy one dish meal or side dish. I think this is every bit as good as risotto made on the stove that you stand over and stir for a half an hour and that takes several pans and utensils.
    This takes about 5 minutes of hands on time and it is ready in about 1/2 an hour, and like I said before. It just takes one dish.

    Most recipes say to use Arborio rice for risotto, but I rarely have that. I use any short grain rice I have on hand and it always works out fine. This time I used sushi rice.

    You can sub any garlic you have, or even shallots or green onions. Use any greens you like too or even nuts or leftover bits of cheese you have lurking in your refrigerator. This is one of those dishes you can’t mess up. Enjoy.

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    Ingredients

    1 1/2 cups rice

    5 cups  stock,  divided

    1/4/ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

    1/2 cup dry white wine – I used vermouth

    2 Tablespoons Olive oil – salt –  pepper – 5 or 6 cloves of green garlic or leeks and a few handfuls of any greens you have.

    Directions Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the olive oil and chopped garlic in an ovenproof  pan and let it get soft. Add the rice and 4 cups of the chicken stock. Cover and bake for about 25 or 30 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cook firm, try to not let it get mushy. Remove from the oven, add the remaining cup of  stock, the Parmesan, wine/vermouth, salt, and pepper, and stir vigorously for 2 to 3 minutes, until the rice is thick and creamy. Add the greens and stir until they are wilted and heated through. Serve hot and top it with a little drizzle of olive oil and more pepper and Parmesan cheese.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

    Note; please use any of my recipes and posts as a guide, they are written knowing that ingredients change by seasons and tastes differ cook to cook.  Adjust freely and accordingly and enjoy the process – I do!

  • Harvesting Garlic Scapes and Grilled Garlic Scape Pesto

    “What are garlic scapes”? We are asked this question at CSA pickup and at the Market probably more than any other question I can think of. The scape is the part of the garlic plant that is trying to bud. We remove it, because it is delicious, and because when the scape is removed the garlic plant focus its energy into making the garlic bulb bigger rather than putting energy into procreating.

    It is one thing to tell you that we pull the scape off the garlic plant, but I thought it would be more interesting and helpful to show you a video harvesting some scapes.

    Some people cut the scape off the plant and don’t pull them. If you cut them you miss out on the yummy tender few inches hidden in the stalk. The first scape I pulled I didn’t get much of the tender stalk out, the second one shows how you ideally want to harvest scapes.

    We have a recipe on this site for garlic scape pesto. I like garlic scapes grilled so I think I will makes some grilled garlic scape pesto and see if I like it as well as the original/raw version.

    Here is the Garlic scape pesto recipe. I just grilled the scapes and followed the recipe.

    Grilled scapes taste almost like green beans with a little garlic flavor. They are very mild.

    Grilled Scapes

    Put all the pesto ingredients in the food processor and give it a whirl.

    Ingredients

    …and there you go. Grilled garlic pesto. You can thin your pesto or leave it thick like this.

    Pesto

    Have a great Father’s Day weekend. I think we will grill some pizza and have the pesto on the pizzas.

    Mo

     

     

  • Green Garlic

    What do I do with Green Garlic?

    Green Garlic

    Being in a CSA opens you up to vegetables you sometimes have never encountered. For new CSA members green garlic is often one of those vegetables.

    Green garlic is young garlic that has been harvested before it is allowed to mature into separate cloves. It looks a lot like  the walking onions we got in this weeks CSA share, and is a little bigger and more bulbous that scallions.

    Green garlic has a mild garlic flavor and is much more tender than fully mature garlic that will be harvested later. You can use the whole green garlic plant. Unlike mature garlic, where you can use only the cloves.

    I like to chop up my whole bunch of green garlic so it is easy to grab for any dishes I make needing onions, scallions or garlic. Here my bunch is cleaned….Cleaned Garlic

    …then chopped and ready to use.

    Chopped Garlic

    These will keep it in a sealed container the refrigerator for about a week chopped up like this. Throw them in everything! Their spring fresh flavor will make you happy and elevate any dishes you make.

    Fried Eggs

    Even simple dishes.

    Have a great week. Leave a comment and let me know what you did with your green garlic, or any of your CSA bounty you got this week.

     

  • Sorrel and Garlic Scapes Pesto

    This week, and probably next, you will be getting either garlic scapes or green garlic. See my previous post on both here on how they grow. Scroll down a bit past the recipe.

    Sorrel is probably the one item on the Farm, at CSA pick-up and at the Farmer’s Market we get most questions about.

    Sorrel

    It looks a lot like spinach but is related to rhubarb and buckwheat. If you ever see buckwheat or rhubarb going to seed you will see the similarities. Sorrel is tart like rhubarb too.

    I think of sorrel as somewhere in-between a green and an herb. It’s tart pungent flavor isn’t great alone, or I don’t think it is. But sorrel is great as an accompaniment with other pungent flavors like kale, garlic, or arugula. I tell people to use it in dishes you would use basil, parsley or cilantro. You will get an unexpected tart, bright ‘bang’ in your dish.

    I don’t know why but sorrel leaves always have some wear and tear and holes. Very few leaves are ever perfect, and that is just fine. You almost always shred, process, or cook the sorrel so it doesn’t matter if the leaves aren’t perfect. This is my bunch of sorrel leaves washed and ready to cook with. This is actually a really nice looking bunch of sorrel. Very few leaves are beat up. I would be fine with much worse.

    Washed Sorrel

    Wyatt suggested I make a sorrel pesto. I had never made sorrel pesto, so why not? I used my ‘go-to’ pesto recipe. You can sub any ingredients for like ingredients in any pesto recipe. So, please, play with this through the season with what you have. Sub kale, or spinach, or cilantro for the sorrel. Use any allium or nuts you like. Try walnut or pumpkin seed oil.
    I got green garlic this week, but if you got garlic scapes you can use those in the same amount. You could also just use a few cloves of garlic if you want to make this later in the season when scapes and green garlic are gone.

    Sorrel and green garlic pesto

    INGREDIENTS

    1 1/2 cups (1 3/4 ounces) loosely packed washed sorrel leaves (or any leafy green), trimmed if there are tough stems.
    3 or 4 garlic scapes or green garlic bulbs or cloves of garlic washed and trimmed.
    1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (any cheese will do) (about a 1-ounce piece)
    1/4 cup nuts, any kind you like. I used almonds today.
    1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (I thought I would skip the lemon because the sorrel is so tart, but the tartness was diminished from the fat in the oil and cheese and the lemon was very nice here. Taste before you add it though)
    Salt and pepper
    1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
    DIRECTIONS

    Process sorrel, Parmesan, pine nuts, lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor until coarsely ground. With machine running, add oil in a slow, steady stream until mixture is emulsified. Pesto can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Put a light film of oil on top of the pesto if you are storing more than a day so it doesn’t turn brown. If it does turn brown it is ok to eat, it just looks unappetizing.

    This recipe makes about a cup of pesto. I really like it made with sorrel, good suggestion Wyatt!
    If I’m being honest I am not a classic basil pesto fan. I don’t like the clove undertones of sweet basil and I really don’t like pine nuts in anything. This sorrel pesto has a nice, clean balanced flavor. I hope you try it.

    Finished Pesto