In our last CSA basket we got two things I have never eaten or cooked before: kale and garlic scapes. I had never even heard of scapes before so I had no idea how to use them. Apparently they are the little green shoots that come up before the garlic bulb develops cloves, and you can chop them off and eat them. Kale is a dark leafy green vegetable (i.e., really really good for you). They all kind of sat in my fridge for a little while as I tried to find some recipe to try them in.
I just love the Web. I did a search on scapes to figure out how to use them, and not only did this recipe call for scapes, but wouldn't you know it, calls for kale too. Now, cooking a recipe off of a random blog is a little out of my comfort zone (no ratings, no comments by seasoned cooks... a little more of a gamble than cooking off of Epicurious or Food Network. Kind of like cooking from a cookbook.) (Did I just give away what generation I am from?). But sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind.
To my delight, this was actually quite delicious. I found the recipe a little hard to follow (starting on low heat, then going to medium, then going to low again seemed a little unnecessary). I ended up sauteing the scapes and garlic on medium heat, then I added the kale and left it on medium for a few minutes. When the kale started getting a little tender I decreased the heat to medium-low. I wasn't really sure when the kale was officially done, so I just let it get tender and tasted it. I would have never thought of adding toasted walnuts and leafy green vegetables to spaghetti, but the mix of flavors in this recipe complemented one another. I would happily make this again (and my husband would happily eat it). You could probably substitute shallots, garlic or scallions for the scapes if they are not available.
No comments:
Post a Comment