Garlic scape pesto
Garlic scapes are the flower/seed stalk that shoots up from the garlic bulb. I like the way they curl and from what I understand if they not cut off they will eventually straighten out and bloom. The reason they cut them off they is so the bulb can get more energy to grow bigger and better.
The farmers’ markets and the CSA shares in this area are brimming with garlic scapes. Judging by the comments I heard at the market this morning, not everyone knows what they are or what to do with them. Tonight for dinner I’ll annoint them with some olive oil and grill them just like I do asparagus. They can be chopped thick or thin and added to salads and stir-fries.
My favorite thing to do with them is to make garlic scape pesto. It is super easy to make and refrigerates well for several weeks in a well sealed jar. I also plan on popping some into the freezer to top off my winter soups. I use this pesto on brushetta, pasta, eggs, foccacia, and just about anything I grill like shrimp, salmon, chicken. It’s also fabulous added to mayonnaise and smeared on a big roast beef sandwich. Now I’m hungry!!!
Garlic scape pesto
1 pound garlic scapes
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
Olive oil (about 1/2 to 1 cup)
Pine nuts if available
Chop the garlic scapes into 3 inch lengths. Put it int he food processor and process until pureed. Add the parmesan and pine nuts and process until smooth. Slowly add the olive oil as the food processor runs and continue until all the oil is combined into the garlic. Store in an air-tight jar in the refrigerator.
Excuse me, you left the door open…
It’s a large refrigerator and almost 15 years old…note the duct tape on the door. What you don’t see is two produce drawers…one has bags of baby spinach and arugala and two giant fresh artichokes. The other has potatoes for a potato au gratin and a bag of trail mix that I mix myself from cashews, almonds, dried mixed berries and chocolate chips.
There are a wide range of jams, pickles, butters, and mustards on the shelf behind the cherries, strawberries, and yogurt. The yogurt just came out of its maker and later I’ll drain it and put it in a jar.
The OJ, milk and 1/2 n 1/2 in the door are all local products delivered by LW Dairy…yes, that’s right, I have a milkman, aren’t you jealous! Every week I get 4 bottle of milk and 7 bottles of OJ (the boys drink it by the quart jar), and 3 cartons of 1/2 n 1/2. We use the milk to make yogurt and a variety of espresso drinks, and hot chocolate.
Today’s recipe is for the Red Zinger tea you see in the door. I make it from a recipe given to me by my neighbor Ann, but we store it in one of the milk bottles.
Red Zinger Tea
5 bags of Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger Tea
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup of sugar
1 bottle extra ginger Ginger Beer
water and ice
Steep the teabags in the water for 8 - 10 minutes. Remove bags, add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add ice and stir until it melts. Pour into the container you’ll store it in. Add the ginger beer and top the container off with cold water. Enjoy!
What’s in your refrigerator? Post a list in the comments section or send me a picture and I’ll post it.
I’ll be away from my computer on Monday and maybe Tuesday but I’ll be back and I’ll hope to have some interesting pictures…it’s a field trip of sorts.
Geeks eat fast food too
I was deep into database-world today at work. Part of my day job is to make maps that are graphical representations of underlying databases. I love this part of my job because it is such a cool mix of design and database manipulation. On the way home I stopped by Trader Joe’s to get Double Rainbow ice cream for the guys and while I was there I scrounged up a quick, easy, and healthy dinner. Fast food for geeks. I didn’t keep track of the cost but I’m sure it was under $10 for the two of us (the boys scarfed down my homemade chili before returning to their gaming lair).
I took one bag of jumbo shrimp, in shell and, after thawing them under running water for 5 minutes and letting them sit for 10, I dumped them into a ziploc with 1/2 cup mango/chili vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil, and 1 tablespoon Penzys Adobo Spice mix. I let that rest for 10 minutes while I read the paper and sipped a well earned glass of chardonnay. Then GH lit the grill and I heated a medium skillet on a medium flame and added a tablespoon or so of canola oil, and a tablespoon of Penzys Singapore Seasoning. A minute or two later I added a bag of Trader Joe’s Nasi Goreng Indonesian Rice Dish.
I walked out the door, put the shrimp on the grill, walked back into the kitchen and stirred the rice, walked back to the grill, flipped the shrimp, back to the stove, stirred the rice, back to the grill to remove the shrimp, turned off the grill (yes, it’s gas…we’re not certified for real fire…we’re geeks!), back to the stove where I plated the meal.
That meal took less time to make than I would have spent in the Culver’s (substitute Sonic or whatever) Drive-Thru lane. Fat per serving was from olive oil and canola oil, protein was good, a little fiber, even a little iron for those of us with iron-poor blood. Beyond that it was simply tasty. The shrimp were tangy yet smoky, the Nasi Goreng was spicy and had a nice texture.
Okay fellow geeks and random readers…what is your version of fast food and why. Don’t be shy, we all need the inspiration. And by the way if you’re lurking and not sure about commenting…jump on in, the water’s fine and the geeks don’t bite.
