Potato Soup with Garlic Scapes

I remember the day being a bit gloomy, but I couldn’t tell you the season. Mom decided she would make potato soup. She then decided it would be creamy potato soup, although I don’t recall that she added any dairy. A good handful of fresh parsley was added at some point, and the resulting soup was a sort if iridescent green. And it was fabulously delicious.

Of course, that was likely at least 20 years before I even considered writing a recipe blog (we didn’t even have a computer in the house), so exactly what went into that soup never was properly recorded. All we have is the beautiful memory of the fleeting wonder that is improvised perfection, gone but never forgotten. I think I’ve been afraid to try to duplicate it all these years, sure that I’ll never achieve anything equal to that memory.

 

Well, I thought of that soup as I was making this one. I realized I was probably doing pretty much what Mom had done, keeping things simple and using what was on hand. What was on hand happened to be a big bundle of garlic scapes, the tube-shaped immature flower clusters that form on hardneck garlic plants. You’ll probably have a hard time finding these in supermarkets, but check your local farmer’s market or natural food stores that stock local ingredients. They are mildly garlicky in flavor, and I like to substitute a handful of them for a few garlic cloves in recipes this time of year.

As I said, I kept this soup very simple, simmering the potatoes and garlic scapes in water, then pureeing the soup to a rich velvety texture that I didn’t even need to enhance with anything creamy. For some subtle flavor additions I stirred in a few splashes of tamari (you could use regular soy sauce), some sesame oil and chopped fresh chives from my own backyard.

I don’t know what made me think the Asian flavors should be included in this soup, although I have a sneaking suspicion that this salad had some influence. The soy sauce and sesame oil were nice companions to the gentle garlic flavor of the scapes, and anyone who has ever put chives on a baked potato knows that they belonged here, too. The flavors are mild, so you could adjust them if you want something snappier. I liked the simplicity of this recipe, but good tasting potatoes are essential. It may not the same as Mom’s improvised parsley-potato soup, but it’s good…and I wrote down what I did so I can do it again.

Potato and Garlic Scape Soup with Chives

The salt will probably need the most adjustment to taste here. This recipe is fairly mild and its saltiness will depend on that of your soy sauce or tamari.

1 tablespoon neutral oil, such as canola or peanut

1 medium yellow onion, chopped
¾ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
2 pounds boiling potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 cup chopped garlic scapes
4 cups water
2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil (or infused sesame oil)
about ¼ to 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh chives

1. Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until soft but not yet browned.

2. Add the potato and garlic scapes. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the potatoes from sticking to the pan.

3. Add the water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and boil gently for 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are very tender. (Time is likely to depend on the type of potatoes you use and how small you cut them.)

4. Remove from the heat. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender until very smooth. Stir in the chives. Taste and add salt or other seasonings as desired. Garnish with additional chives or chive flowers if you have them.

Makes about 6-8 servings.

 

Other recipes like this one: Creamy Cabbage and Potato Soup, Cream of Carrot and Parsnip Soup

One year ago: Rhubarb Custard Bars

Garlicky Carbonara

Our CSA has its own blogging diva (Peggy at Cook Out of the Box), an experienced cook, ingredient expert, and veritable walking encyclopedia of home-cooking knowledge. Her “Inspiration” posts help us subscribers, who are often a bit panicky at the site of a box full of seemingly unrelated and occasionally unfamiliar fresh ingredients, out of a lot of scrapes. Or, in the case of a recent post, out of some scapes as well.

In last week’s CSA box we received a bundle of garlic scapes, which are twisty curly stems that bear the immature flowers of the garlic plant that will grow up to give us the garlic bulbs we all know and love. They taste like mild garlic and are easy to chop up and sauté to add to just about anything that might usually contain garlic and onions.

Alongside those great scapes many of us also received a bunch of garlic chives. I’ve heard of these, and even tried to grow them (without success), but I don't recall ever eating them before. With flatter leaves than common chives, they look more like grass blades, and they really taste like a combination of mild garlic and mild onion. Subtler than either, mellow and delicious. Assuming you like garlic.

Peggy, in her Inspiration post, suggested tossing sautéed garlic scapes and garlic chives with pasta and Parmesan, creating a sauce with a bit of pasta-cooking water. I almost made just that recipe, but then I remembered that I had some bacon, purchased for BLT sandwiches featuring the fabulous lettuces we also got in our box. I would take the garlicky pasta idea, add bacon and eggs, and make it into a carbonara.

If you’re a genius of Italian cuisine, you’ll probably be turning up your nose at my version of this dish. You will see clearly from the photos that I did not achieve a delicate, creamy slurry of barely-cooked eggs and cheese. Those are quite obviously curds of scrambled eggs nestled amongst the pasta, bacon and green things. All I can say is that I tried. I transferred the hot noodles right to the pan along with hot pasta water, hoping they would quickly heat the eggs without overcooking them. It looked pretty good in the pan, but I’m afraid in the time I took to take the photo, I may have lost some of the intended traditional carbonara texture. Oh, the sacrifices I make for The Messy Apron.

Anyway, guess what. I don’t care. The dish is still delish. The meld of egg, cheese, bacon, and mellow garlic flavors is still delightful (perhaps even addictive), and if you’re not that hung up on perfect texture, the leftovers are great, too. All in all, a fabulous use of pantry and refrigerator staples and a couple of unusual ingredients from the CSA box. Of course, a real Italian chef would probably use Pecorino Romano cheese instead of Parmigiano-Reggiano in this dish, but, since I’m not even a fake Italian chef, I’m not beholden to culinary tradition and am free to love the dish just as I made it. Imperfect as it may be.

Pasta Carbonara with Garlic Scapes and Garlic Chives

3 strips thick-cut bacon (or 4 strips of thinner bacon)
8 ounces uncooked long pasta (I used linguine)
salt for cooking pasta
½ cup finely-chopped garlic scapes
½ cup finely-chopped garlic chives
3 large eggs, beaten
¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese (preferably Parmigiano-Reggiano), divided

1. Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium-low to medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from the pan and set aside on paper towels to drain. Chop or crumble when cool. Remove all but about 1 tablespoon of the rendered bacon fat from the pan. Return to medium-low heat.

2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling salted water until tender. If possible, time the cooking of the pasta so that it is ready to go straight from the water to the pan (see step 4).
3. Add the garlic scapes and garlic chives to the bacon grease in the heated skillet. Cook 4-5 minutes or until the garlic scapes are tender, stirring often.

4. Remove the cooked pasta from the cooking water and transfer it directly to the pan with the garlic scapes and garlic chives. Toss briefly. Add the eggs, ½ cup Parmesan and about ½ cup pasta-cooking water. Turn off the heat and toss just until the eggs start to thicken. Serve immediately topped with the remaining Parmesan.

Other recipes like this one: Pasta with Yellow Squash, Corn and Bacon; Spaetzle with Cabbage, Bacon and Onions

Two years ago: Eggs Benedict Salad

Camping Salad

We recently took a little camping trip to Great River Bluffs State Park in southeastern Minnesota. This park has wooded hiking trails that lead to beautiful bluff prairies and fabulous Mississippi River views. Although the noise from I-90 and busy railroad tracks does encroach on the park, the preserved and reclaimed natural setting with its unique habitats and vistas goes well beyond refreshing and inspiring.

I do have a few personal rules when it comes to camping: 1) If at all possible it should be in a campground with a shower. 2) There must be something cushy between me and the ground when I try to sleep. And 3) The food has to be good.

A little planning allowed 1) and 2) to come together pretty well, and some additional planning and preparation were all that was needed to tackle 3). Among a few other things, I prepped and packed Peanut Butter Granola Bars (like these but made with peanut butter instead of almond butter), homemade Granola, homemade yogurt, Beet and Carrot Burgers (which were a disaster because I forgot a spatula), homemade jam and homemade wheat bread, and chocolate chip cookies. I also put together a salad, much like one I had made on request for my inlaws a few weeks ago when they came to visit. It’s simple, fresh, delicious and keeps and travels very well.

I made the salad with cooked wheat berries (I talked about cooking them here. You can freeze extras to have on hand.) and vegetables I happened to have in the refrigerator, including some crisp sugar snap peas and red bell pepper. (I also have used asparagus when making this when it’s in season). A handful of fresh herbs (from my container garden on the porch) and simple vinaigrette with fresh lemon juice, perk up the starchy wheat berries without being perishable like a mayonnaise or dairy-based dressing would be.

I also used garlic scapes to flavor this dish. Scapes are tender, dark green, curly stems that carry the immature flower buds of the garlic plant. They’re included in our CSA boxes in the spring as they are harvested to help the underground garlic bulbs become all that they can be. They’re probably hard to find unless you grow garlic or know someone who does. You may be able to get them at some farmers’ markets or stores that carry local and/or organic produce. The season is probably over for them by now, but mine have lasted very well in the refrigerator and I’m still using them.

Garlic scapes are milder in flavor than garlic cloves, but are stronger than chives or garlic chives. You can use them pretty much interchangeably with both garlic cloves and chives as long as you are prepared for the rather pleasant difference. I use them in soups and sauces in place of garlic, and hardly notice the difference as long as I use enough. You could use a small, finely-minced garlic clove in place of the scapes in this wheat berry salad if you really want the garlic flavor. If, however, you’re planning to snuggle into a tent with someone after eating it, be sure you’ve both achieved a good dose of garlic breath so no one causes offense.


This salad was great for camping meals. It’s refreshing (when kept cool), flavorful and quite healthy and doesn’t get mushy over time. In fact, the whole trip was a big success, with the exception of the accidental omission of one extremely important item. Under conditions ripe for the development of a DEET-based religion, there I was without my mosquito repellent. I’m still itching!

Wheat Berry Salad with Sugar Snap Peas and Lemon Vinaigrette
If you do not have garlic scapes, you could add a small, finely minced garlic clove instead, but the flavor is likely to be stronger.

2 cups cooked wheat berries
1 cup chopped sugar snap peas, trimmed, tough strings removed
½ cup finely chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic scapes (optional)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon coarse Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1. In a large bowl, combine the wheat berries, sugar snap peas, red bell pepper, garlic scapes, parsley and oregano.

2. In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper and olive oil. Whisk well to combine completely. Pour over the wheat berry mixture and stir to combine and coat well.

Other recipes like this one: Grain Salad with White Beans and Artichokes, Wheat Berry Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Maple Walnut Vinaigrette (more of a fall or winter salad)

One year ago: Rhubarb Yogurt Cake