garlic scapes and a sammich.

soo... life has been a little hectic and crazy lately, thus, the lack of posts. I might not begin actually posting on a regular basis until August... we'll see.

In any case, I went to the farmers' market the other week (i have been EXTREMELY lazy about farmers' market visits this year... it's pretty shameful...)

In an attempt to try something new and exciting, i picked up these



GARLIC SCAPES!

So what are they? They're kind of like a mix between a chives and green beans (only a little tougher) and they taste (SURPRISE!) like garlic. YUM!
The first time that I tried cooking them, i fried them up in a pan with some portabello, shitake and oyster mushrooms, and a little bit of Earth Balance. It was pretty tasty.




I served these with a delicious sammich.



I forget EXACTLY what I put in the main topping, but it went something like this:
1 can of chickpeas and half a package of firm tofu mashed together, several tablespoons of grainy mustard, juice from one or two lemons, 1/4 cup of tamari, a few tablespoons of tahini, pinch of paprika, pinch of cayenne, 1 tablespoon or so of vegan mayo, and 1 tablespoon of miso paste. I then chopped up some avocado, lettuce and tomatoes, and grated some carrots, and put the whole mess on some multi-grain bread. Delicious!YUM! This topping kind of fills the tuna salad sammich craving. (i miss tuna melts... *sigh*)

A note on garlic scapes:
The second time that i cooked them, I attempted to grill them on the bbq with a little oil.... not so successful. If you see these puppies at the farmers' market and decide to pick them up, I would recommend blanching them for a few minutes before grilling. They are pretty tough, so a few minutes in boiling water (followed by a cold water bath) would really loosen them up.
Also, these are only in season for about TWO WEEKS every year!! So snap them up while you can!!