From Binky's Culinary Carnival

I love how in detail this blogger goes into garlic!

Scapes would make a lovely compound butter with a little lemon and maybe some fresh thyme. You could use the butter to make a tarted-up garlic bread, and I can’t think of much (except maybe fruit—I do have some boundaries) that could be tossed on the grill but not finished with a nice slice of this melting goodness.

Below we have a scape-specific butter recipe:

Ingredients:
1 lb unsalted butter, softened to room temperature.
1/2 c garlic scape, buds and stalks, chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 splash Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Chop garlic scapes roughly in the food processor or with a knife. Chop herbs.
2. Soften garlic in olive oil over medium low heat, watching carefully. Garlic should just soften, not brown. Once garlic has softened, allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Add butter, garlic and herbs together. Mix thoroughly. Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap. Cool in the refrigerator or store in the freezer to prolong shelf life.

From seriouseats.com

Another great, and unique way to showcase scapes is to grill them, tossed with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, over direct heat for about two minutes. Flip them once, halfway through, and finish with an extra sprinkle of flaky salt and maybe a bit of lemon juice and zest. They’ll be charred in spots and just soft enough, and their flavor will have sweetened and mellowed dramatically. Grilled scapes bear a striking resemblance to asparagus, and are surprisingly different from raw scapes.

Ingredients:
8 ounces steamed edamame
3 garlic scapes
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 lemon – zest
1/2 lemon – juiced
2 tablespoons cashew butter or tahini
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. In your food processor add all ingredients except the olive oil. Blend together and slowly add in olive oil through the top of the food processor. You want to make sure the hummus is spreadable and a nice dip consistency. Add more olive oil if needed.
2. Eat right away or store in refrigerator until ready to eat.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup garlic scapes (chopped)
1 (16-ounce) can chickpeas (drained)
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 tsp. lemon juice
1⁄4 cup warm water
Sea salt (to taste)

Directions:

1. First, finely chop your garlic scapes by hand or in food processor.
2. Next, add all of the remaining ingredients to either the food processor or blender and pulse until you get a creamy consistency.
3. Feel free to add additional warm water if needed, in order to loosen the texture.
4. Serve at room temperature immediately or store in refrigerator for serving in 1 to 2 days.

Far and away my favorite use for garlic scapes is pesto, either straight-up or mixed with herbs like basil and dill. Pesto showcases raw scapes in all their glory. Scape pesto can be very pungent, but it mellows substantially after a few months in the freezer. I like it best in the middle of winter, but I think that’s one part mellowing and two parts deprivation. My favorite scape pesto recipe is below.

Ingredients:
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 Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
*Or use half scapes and half herbs such as basil, dill and chervil

Directions:

1. In a small, dry pan set over very low heat, lightly toast the pine nuts, stirring or tossing occasionally until just beginning to brown, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes.
2. Combine the scapes, pine nuts, lemon juice and zest, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse about 20 times, until fairly well combined. Pour in the olive oil slowly through the feed tube while the motor is running. When the oil is incorporated, transfer the pesto to a bowl and stir in the grated cheese. If you plan to freeze the pesto, wait to add the cheese until after you’ve defrosted it.

Melissa Clark’s recipe for double-garlic soup uses both scapes and green garlic. If you’re not finding green garlic in the market anymore, you could improvise with a few garlic cloves and a handful of a pungent spring green like arugula or watercress.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
3 fat bulbs green garlic, root and green parts trimmed, outer layer removed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cups sliced garlic scapes (about ¾ pound)
1½ teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, more for garnish
¾ teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
1 large Yukon Gold potato, peeled and diced
1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup half-and-half or whole milk
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:

1. Chop green garlic. In a soup pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add green garlic and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add scapes, thyme, salt and pepper, and sauté for 5 minutes.
2. Stir in potato and broth, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until scapes and potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Add half-and-half, and purée soup with an immersion blender or pour into a regular blender. Stir in the lemon juice and season with more salt and pepper. Garnish with nutmeg and thyme leaves, and serve hot.

To take a more utilitarian approach, you can slice scapes to whatever length you like and use them as you would garlic, as an aromatic in a wide variety of recipes. Scapes lose a lot of their bite when sautéed, more so than garlic cloves, so use at least three or four times as much scape-age as you would clove-age.

Scapes also work well as a vegetable, cut into lengths and added to stir-fries or blanched and added to salads, much as you might use green beans. They’re chameleons among vegetables, I tell you, though not karma chameleons. Karma-wise, they’re all good.