Grilled Garlic Scapes
What am I going to do with garlic scapes? In the past, I made garlic scape pesto. It had an intense garlicky taste that was a bit much for me, even though I love garlic. I don’t want to make pesto right now because there are too many ingredients and the garlic scape pesto that I have had in the past was less than subtle. Even if I blended some garlic scapes into a more basil based pesto, this sounds like a big production. I also don’t want to boil pasta to use pesto. I am looking for the easiest option possible. In my search for ways to use up garlic scapes, I have come across recipes for Grilled Garlic Scapes. These are supposed to be sweeter and nuttier so I have decided that Grilled Garlic Scapes may be worth a try.
Garlic scapes are the stem of the flower of hardneck garlic plants. We planted maybe 15 garlic plants last November. We needed to cut the scapes off about now, in early June. If the plant doesn’t have to put energy toward the bud, it can grow bigger garlic bulbs. Why am I even bothering trying to use the scapes? I live with a husband who is horrified at the idea of not using free food. I try to keep him happy. He in turn, is happy to do all the grilling. The weather is good, so I can send him out to the grill.
The internet (and if it says it on the internet it must be true) says that grilled garlic scapes taste like garlicky grilled asparagus. I am not sure that is how I would describe them. The scapes definitely tasted sweeter grilled than they are raw. However, I did learn something about grilling them. Unlike some other vegetables, they should only be grilled until they are golden brown. I hesitate to tell the internet this, but the parts that we cooked beyond golden brown tasted like an ashtray. Parts of them were also tough and fibrous. Next time, I will trim them back a bit more before grilling. I really enjoyed most parts of the Grilled Garlic Scapes. I will perfect this recipe the next time around. Now that I know more about Grilled Garlic Scapes, I can share what I have learned.
Mellow Grilled Garlic Scapes
Equipment
- Grill
Ingredients
- Roughly 15 Garlic Scapes
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- Several Grinds Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Instructions
- Prepare garlic scapes by cutting of all of the grassy tip above the bud. Snap the garlic scape bottom off at the lowest it will snap at the bottom and then cut off the bottom three inches above that point (the bottom of the scape is deceptively fibrous).
- Put Garlic Scapes in a large bowl. Drizzle the olive oil over them and then sprinkle the salt and pepper. Use hands or tongs to thoroughly coat the scapes in the oil.
- Put the scapes on a medium hot grill in a single layer. Grill for five minutes and turn them over. Grill for five more minutes and remove from the grill.
- *** Scapes should not be more than lightly browned. They will still be lightly firm.
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