Garlic Scapes and Daddy

Ive been away awhile, I know. First I was sick with shingles and could barely walk for two months, then my dad passed away and I was home helping mom awhile. But Im back now and hope to start posting much more.

My dad was the other chef in the family. No he didn't cook professionally as I did. But we often would talk about foods we tried and shared recipes. I would take one of his and add more to it and he would take one of mine and adapt it to cooking a different way. We were always experimenting and trying new things. Dad was limited as to what he could try since mom didn't like much. So in honor of my Dad, I decided to dedicate this blog to him.  It was an experiment and I found out I love garlic scapes. I bet Dad would too.

 I went to the Farmers Market Sunday and found garlic scapes. Ive been hearing so much about them. I never had them before and even when I picked one up and smelled it, it didn't have much smell. So I thought, whats the big deal with these? But I bought 3 bunches anyway. I read about garlic scape pesto so I thought Id try that. I figured if I didn't like it I would just add basil, which I also bought.

But I was in for a surprise! As you cut them they do smell heavenly ......of garlic and almost grassy. My whole house smelled of it while working on my recipes. I tasted it and OMG !!!  and so now its my new favorite thing. I'm hoping to go back this week and get more cuz the season is very short for these things. For more info on scapes: http://gardening.about.com/od/herbsatoz/a/What-Are-Garlic-Scapes.htm

I did some research on them before I did anything with them and I'm glad I did. These funny looking things have a flower bud and apparently you cut those off and discard. When I wandered online for info, I never saw anyone say that in their recipes. So remember to cut off the flower head and trim the bottom of the stem. Some stems are quite tough. I found I would cut and it would be hard and pull a string on it like when your cutting celery. So keep cutting till its ez to cut. I found most stems only needed one or two cuts but there were a couple that needed more. You want the tender parts.  

Then I cut them into about 1in. lengths. I did this because I was going to but them in the food processor to make pesto. I have a small processor. I chopped all of them in the processor and dumped it in a bowl, trying to figure out what to do with so many. I thought OMG I bought too much...........wrong! After I started using them, I thought OMG I need more! lol They are that good.

And so I made Garlic Scape bread to have with dinner. And then I got carried away with my chicken and tossed some chopped scapes on that too while roasting. Finally I made the pesto. ...two batches. I have just enough to make more Garlic scape butter and Ill freeze that.  

 Garlic Scape Butter for bread

1/2 - 3/4 c. chopped garlic scapes
1 stick of butter
1/4c. Parmesan cheese
Process all in food processor till blended. Taste (omg, yummy!) and add S & P if you like.

Spread this on some nice crusty bread. I had a nice Ciabatta bread from the market too. I bake mine at 400 degrees till it starts to get brown on the edges and crusty on top. This will make the greenest bread you ever saw and will confuse people......until they taste it! I like this better than regular garlic bread. Its much more mellow and yet has quite a garlic taste. 

 Garlic Scape Pesto Makes about 2c.
    1/4 cup pine nuts
    3/4 cup coarsely chopped garlic scapes*
    Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    A few generous grinds of black pepper
    1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
    1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
    *Or use half scapes and half herbs such as basil, dill and chervil

Toast pine nuts in a small fry pan if you want. Put all ingredients except oil and Parmesan in a food processor bowl. Pulse till mixed. Slowly add the oil while processor is running till mixed in. Remove from processor and put into a bowl, mix in Parmesan.

 At this point taste it and see if it needs S & P. I froze mine in small jars  to preserve till I need it. 

(sorry about that, I started to cut the chicken apart and remembered I didn't take a pic of it yet!)
My 3 Garlic Chicken Serves 4

1 lg. roaster chicken
4 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
4 carrots peeled and cut into 1in. chunks
Garlic powder
Fresh garlic
Garlic scapes, chopped
Fresh thyme and parsley
1 stick of butter
2c. chicken stock
S & P

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add potatoes and carrots to pan. Sprinkle with thyme, parsley, garlic powder and S & P. Pour chicken stock over all.

Put chicken on top of veggies. Into the cavity stuff 1 stick of butter, cut into chunks, several sprigs of fresh thyme and 5 or 6 garlic cloves. These do not have to be peeled. Sprinkle chicken with S & P and some chopped garlic scapes, (a few tbsp.)  and put in the oven.

You can baste the chicken with the stock in the pan now and then while baking. The butter will meld with the flavors in the bird and make a nice baste for it. Bake till veggies are tender and chicken is done about 1 1/2hrs. I cover it with foil for the first hr. Then I remove the foil and test the veggies. Return to oven to brown and crisp up chicken and veggies. I found at this point I usually need to raise the oven temp to 400 degrees.

This is a one pot meal I served with the garlic bread and it was soooooooooo good. 

Chicken Alfredo Casserole

This recipe came about because of Costco. They carry a Chicken Alfredo dinner premade. Costco isn't near me so when I go its an all day thing. By the time I get home and unload I'm tired. So I would grab one of these dinners to heat up while putting all the stuff away. But theirs is very basic. So I would add broccoli. and sometimes other veggies and even top it with cheese. But the sad part it the casserole is so big and there's only the two of us here, so most of it got tossed after dinner. My bf doesn't like leftovers very much. And so I stopped buying it but we did like it. 

And so I created my own. Now this is the quick version but of course you could make it right by making your own Alfredo sauce and pesto and fresh baking a few chicken breasts too. I often use my Balsamic Chicken recipe for this. I just bake two extra chicken breasts to have on hand for this. But really I use a lot of things that I plan to have on hand to just toss this together fast.

I often make a roast chicken and strip off the meat to freeze. If I do that then I just take a cup or two of the meat to use for this, thawed. If you have a store bought rotisserie chicken, that would work too. But you do want chicken that was roasted or baked with garlic or herbs. Poached is just too bland.

I will use frozen broccoli if I have nothing else. Ive added roasted red peppers, artichokes, spinach and even peas. But you do have to be careful because if you add too much, you run into having lots of leftovers, which I try to avoid. I can't seem to get this dish small for just the two of us. But at least I have it down to four. And if you find it might not be enough for you cuz you have folks with hearty appetites, then make a nice salad and some garlic bread to serve with it. 

Chicken Alfredo Casserole Serves 4

1/2 box of penne or rotini
1 stalk of broccoli, peeled and cut into bite size pieces or about 1c frozen
1 jar (15oz.) Classico Alfredo sauce or the equivalent of homemade
About 2c. cooked, chopped chicken
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
Jar or homemade pesto
S & P

Sliced provolone cheese or mozzarella
Grated Parmesan

*Optional: marinated artichoke hearts, drained and rinsed, roasted red peppers, peas, asparagus, frozen spinach

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Get a lg. pot going for boiling water for the pasta, toss in some salt. When water is boiling toss in the pasta. If your using fresh broccoli, toss that in now also. If your using frozen, wait till pasta is almost done, then put it in the same pot too. Frozen broccoli will just disintegrate if started when the pasta is.

Drizzle a bit of olive oil in the bottom of a 13 x 9in. pan. When pasta and broccoli are done, drain then toss in the baking pan.

Add the tomato, chicken, and any other veggies you might want. Asparagus needs to be cooked first, frozen peas or spinach can just be tossed in as they will thaw and cook when its in the oven.

Pour Alfredo sauce over all this. I add about a half jar of water or milk or half and half to it and shake it well to get any stuck sauce off the jar. Also as this bakes it sucks up the sauce. Extra liquid helps keep it from doing that. Add about two good spoons of pesto. Stir this all up and then taste. Some pestos are not very strong or flavorful so this is to YOUR taste. If it needs more add it but just a bit at a time. Basil can take over this dish real easy. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir the whole thing well.

If you wish, you may top with slices of mozzarella or provolone and then sprinkle with Parmesan. I like provolone because it has a bit more flavor.

Put in heated oven and bake for about 20min. The casserole is done when its just beginning to brown on the edges and its bubbling. If it looks like its getting dry, cover with foil. 

Just a few recipes

Just wandering thru some of my cookbooks and my personal pile of recipes and thought Id post a few today. The first one is Kalamata Olive Pesto that I created for the restaurant where I worked. We served it as an appetizer over scallion fettuccine. You could make this and just use regular fettuccine and toss in fresh sliced scallions to approximate the flavor. My ex and I were out one day and the car radio was on. There were food reviews and restaurant reviews on at that time and Narsai David was reviewing some. He is a local famous chef and celebrity out here. I got so excited because suddenly I realized he was reviewing my dish from the restaurant! And he just loveddddddddd it . omg omg omg Boy did that make my day! So here it is. .....

KALAMATA OLIVE PESTO Makes 2c.
9oz. black Kalamata olives, pitted
1 fresh red chili 2in. long. or chili flakes
2 garlic cloves
2 shallots
3/4 tsp. minced fresh thyme
3/4 tsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4c. lemon juice
1 small bunch of chives
If olives are not pitted, remove pits first. Stores are now carrying pitted Kalamata olives tho so that would save tons of time if you can find them. Put all ingredients into food processor and blend well. Refrigerate. Use on french bread with goat cheese or on pasta.

I made a Greek style appetizer out of this one time for a party at my house. I set this out in one of those divided dishes... one had the olive pesto in it, one had dried tomatoes in oil in it and another had crumbled feta cheese in it. You could also just use roasted red peppers too instead of the tomatoes. I had a basket next to it filled with plain sliced baguette and everyone made their own nibbles. It was a huge hit.

But this could be used on pasta with maybe artichokes in it or as a spread on sandwiches too. Or roll it up in some puff pastry from the store and bake it for appetizers. Or you could make it into a nice tart for lunch or a party. Just make a pastry crust and line it with some olive pesto and top with fresh garden tomatoes, a lil S&P, some fresh thyme sprigs and drizzle with more olive oil, then bake.....yum. You could even roll out some bread dough and spread this on it , roll up and bake for an awesome bread for your meal.
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Another thing this would be good on is this next sandwich. I found this years ago at a Trader Joes Market out here. I had it once and never saw it again. But I loved it so much as I ate it I dissected the ingredients and made a list so I could make it myself later on. It was a Greek Salad Sandwich, and its vegan ,,,,,no meat! and trust me you wont even miss it. I'm not a vegan but I don't mind eating that way once in a while. This was awesome tho.

GREEK SALAD SANDWICH
For each sandwich you need:
1 ciabatta roll, it needs to be crusty peasant type bread like this if you cant find ciabattas.
feta cheese, sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, sliced Kalamata olives, chopped green peppers, sliced red onion, chopped pepperonicini peppers, Basil, Mint and Oregano.
Equal parts lemon juice and olive oil for a dressing.
Slice bread, layer all veggies on it. Top with cheese. Make dressing with lemon juice, olive oil and herbs. Drizzle over sandwich and put top of sandwich on and eat. You could also stuff this into a pita pocket. It would be really tasty too with leaves of fresh basil in it.
This would be a great sandwich to use that olive pesto in instead of sliced olives.