What to do with garlic scapes

Garlic scapes made an appearance at a minimum of three farmers’ market vendor booths a couple of weeks ago.  The scapes (pictured above)  are just the tops of the garlic that stick above the ground. They are a bit mellower than garlic and have a nice crunch, similar to a green onion.

I purchased some garlic scapes and broccoli from Roots Down Farm, one of my favorite vendors at the market. Roots Down is located in Milton, Wisconsin.  You can follow them on Facebook here.  Make sure to visit their booth when tomato season hits.  Their selection of heirloom tomatos is incredible.

Anyhow, I decided to blanch the broccoli and make a garlic scape vinaigrette.  I chopped the scapes and mixed them with some extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice (I make my vinaigrettes, especially ones with citrus as the acid, at a 4:1 ratio of oil to juice).  The broccoli was blanched for about 2 minutes then shocked with cold water.  They were semi-soft but still retained their bright color and their crunch.  The scape vinaigrette brightened the flavor and added some more texture to the side dish.

I served this with a flat iron steak, which was not from the farmers’ market.  No matter what kind of meat you are making, I’ll share a killer technique I learned from Adam Perry Lang’s “Serious Barbecue” cookbook (he details the technique here under the “final thoughts” section).  The tip works well for all meats but is probably best for meat that you are slicing like a flat-iron, skirt, or flank steak, tenderloin, racks of lamb or prime rib. What you do is take some herbs and garlic or shallots (I used more of the scapes) and chop them up on the cutting board you plan on slicing your meat on. Drizzle the board with some olive oil and maybe even some balsamic vinegar or citrus juice (I used some lemon leftover from the vinaigrette).  Crack some black pepper and some sea salt on the board as well.  Then when you take your meat off the grill, set it atop the herbs and oil on  the cutting board.  Let it rest for a while (5 min for steak, 10 for tenderloin) and then slice.  Drag each piece through the cutting board mixture, which now has been infused with the juice of the meat.  This adds a while other layer of flavor.  When you are done drain the remaining juice/herb mixture into a bowl and drizzle over the meat.  You’ll be impressed at how much flavor this technique yields.