At Kristen Kordet’s CSA and market farm in Stoughton, Wisc., CSA members come out to the farm on Wednesdays to pick up their veggies from a farmers’ market style display. Many stay a while. They visit the chickens and pigs, pick flowers and herbs, swap recipes and watch their kids climb the jungle gym together. Kristen says it’s like a weekly farm party. Her members are bringing the community to Blue Moon Community Farm.
Kristen’s CSA is full for 2016. She vends her certified-organic veggies all season at the Westside Community Market in Madison, open Saturdays, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. near Segoe Road and University Avenue. [Directions]
Kristen said she really likes this recipe for Sesame Noodles with Veggies and Garlic Scapes — “It’s something we make a lot this time of year, with all the veggies in season now” — and this Garlic Scape Pesto is awesome. “I use garlic scapes in everything these days,” she said.
The current issue of Edible Madison has a wonderful story by Wendy Allen about Kristen. Read it here. Check out this recipe for Garlic Scape and Cilantro Pesto by Dani Lind, from among Edible Madison’s recipes.
And lastly, here is farmer and blogger Lauren Rudersdorf on garlic scapes:
Meet Your Veggie: Garlic Scapes
Most seasonal eaters and CSA members are familiar with the curly green items found at farmers’ markets in early summer CSA boxes. Some even know how to use them, but many are confused by this vibrant green vegetable.
Garlic scapes are the flower stalk of hard-neck garlic. Two months after the first leaves of garlic plants pop above ground, scapes begin to shoot toward the sky. Scapes may be beautiful, but farmers do not want to leave them on the plant. Garlic scapes must be removed so that they don’t take energy from the garlic bulb that’s forming below. But scapes are no byproduct! If ever there was a new vegetable worth getting to know, it is the simple, elegant garlic scape. Bulb garlic isn’t ready in Wisconsin until late summer. Who can wait that long?! Not me!
Garlic scapes provide a more delicate (less pungent) fresh garlic flavor. Best of all, scapes are not at all difficult to use. Think scallions or green garlic. Garlic scapes are just as versatile. Garlic scapes can be eaten raw or cooked. You’ll first want to remove the flower and any tough portion from the end. From there, feel free to experiment wildly. Pickle them. Throw them in pesto. Toss them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and throw them on the grill. Keep it simple and sauté them in a little butter and add them to your scrambled eggs. Add it to homemade dressings. Dice it up, toss it with some herbs and a little olive oil and spread it over grilled meat. Most importantly, don’t be intimidated. Garlic scapes are your new best friend.
Garlic Scape Alfredo, Two Ways
Takes 20 minutes; makes 2 cups of sauce
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup minced garlic scapes, flowers and tough ends removed (if you’ve got more, use them!)
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups whole milk
1 cup finely shredded Parmesan
Directions:
Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium low heat. Add garlic scapes, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Saute for 5 minutes until garlic scapes are slightly softened and very fragrant. Add flour and reduce heat to low. Stir until well-incorporated and just slightly golden brown. Add whole milk and cook until thick (about 5 minutes). Add Parmesan cheese and stir until melted. Remove from heat.
Snap Pea & Rainbow Chard Linguine with Garlic Scape Alfredo
Takes 20 minutes (plus time to make sauce); makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
8 ounces dry linguine pasta
1 cup Garlic Scape Alfredo
3 rainbow chard leaves, stems removed
1 cup sliced snap peas
¼ cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add pasta and cook for 8 to 9 minutes until just al dente. Heat alfredo sauce over medium low heat in a large skillet. Once pasta is cooked, remove pasta with tongs and place in alfredo pan, reserving the cooking liquid. Add chard, snap peas and ¼ cup of the pasta water. Stir to combine and cook until chard is wilted and peas are bright green, about 5 minutes. Add additional pasta water to loosen sauce if necessary. Finish with Parmesan cheese and salt. Serve hot.
Charred Zucchini & Garlic Scape Alfredo Pizza
Takes 25 minutes (plus time to make sauce); makes 1 pizza
Ingredients:
1 batch pizza dough (homemade or store-bought)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large zucchini or 2 small zucchinis, cut into 1/4-inch slices
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup Garlic Scape Alfredo
½ bunch scallions, sliced (white and pale green parts only)
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Directions:
Preheat broiler of oven. Add olive oil to baking sheet. Add zucchini slices to baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Once oven is preheated, broil for 5 minutes until lightly browned. Flip and broil 5 minutes more. Each side should have some color, but not be blackened. Turn off broiler and preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Roll out dough to fit a round baking pan. Spread with Garlic Scape Alfredo leaving an inch wide border. Color with zucchini slices in a single layer and bake for 12 minutes until crust is just beginning to brown. Add scallions and red pepper flakes and bake 5 minutes longer.
Lauren Rudersdorf is the food and farming blogger behind The Leek & The Carrot. Here she shares seasonal recipes and stories from the fields. One of her favorite parts of summer is developing recipes for CSA newsletters and helping people love local produce just as much as she does. When she’s not writing or developing recipes, Lauren helps her husband Kyle in the fields of their 4-acre diversified vegetable farm south of Evansville, Wisconsin. Lauren and Kyle are in their fourth season at Raleigh’s Hillside Farm.
PODCAST CREDITS: Production by Molly Stentz and Julie Garrett, Blue Moon photo gallery by Julie Garrett, theme music performed by Cathryn Herlihey, logo by Katie Hess