I love garlic! It’s hands down my favorite crop. I think the garlic bed is so lovely, from early spring to mid-summer. The plant has 2 harvests and a farmer friendly schedule. The first harvest is what I’ll explain here today, the scapes! Not scrapes or stakes, scapes! Like “Escape" minus the ‘E'. Each garlic clove I plant, tries to send up a flower stalk. I cut it off, to force the clove into bulb production ASAP. That cut off flower is the scape!
A harvest of the curly garlic scapes, green garlicky goodness.
When you buy a bag of scapes from me, you’ll get a half pound of them, about a dozen curls. Most recipes only use 2 or 3 curls. You can cut and freeze scapes if you need.
Saute scapes and onions with oil.
For my soup, I use 4 or 5 scape curls with a pound of new potatoes. Cut the scapes into a rough dice, discard the actual flower bit at the ends. Saute the diced scapes with an equal amount of diced green onion, with oil in a pot. Stir frequently, have the potatoes cut into 1” cubes. When color and scent are at max in the pot, add the potatoes, salt and black pepper to taste. Add enough water or vegetable stock to cover the potatoes with an inch over. Simmer until the potatoes are tender. At this point I do one fancy step. It really takes this soup up a notch to fantastic. You can serve the soup without it, or adjust to a non dairy substitute, you do you.
The potato and scape soup after water is added.
When the potatoes are tender, scoop out 2 cups or so of the soup, into a big mixing bowl. Add a half cup of whole milk. Using an immersion blender, blend potatoes down and mix in milk. Add mixing bowl contents back to the soup pot, stir to combine. Serve warm.
Give your body the gift of good food. Grab a bag of scapes today!
Jennie
Soup serving suggestion.