Risotto with Garlic Scapes
Getting to know allium sativum
We’ve had some beautiful weather in Connecticut recently. Warm days. Crisp, cool nights that allow me to keep the windows open and hear the birds in the morning. It’s the time of year when I wake up without any need of an alarm, because sunlight pours through the bedroom windows. We have yet to run the AC much, either.
The top of our road has a small bridge that a DOT inspection revealed is unsafe to any vehicle or pedestrian and shows signs of severe deterioration of the steel beams supporting it. It’s now closed. The bridge was inspected as part of an application for grant funding to the state DOT local bridge program. I don’t know what to make of this. Does this mean the bridge was safe as long as there was no money available to fix it? Yikes. Think about that next time you drive across a bridge in these United States!
Since the bridge hasn’t even got on the list for a structural assessment, which is needed before they can even do any scoping of the work to be done, I don’t think this will be completed in my lifetime. That is ok, because I used to live on road with through traffic and now I live on a peaceful cul-de-sac with baby animals having night time block parties.
May and June have become my favorite time of year. I used to love October, but lately Octobers don’t feel like fall anymore- they are sticky and humid and we don’t seem to get the same colors. I also used to love winter, but we haven’t had real winter in years. Late spring and early summer have not yet let me down, though. I love the farmers’ market— especially the local lettuces, strawberries, and fresh peas available in June. I have often walked straight past the garlic scapes, because I wasn’t exactly sure what they were. I could tell they were some kind of allium, but didn’t know what to do with them. On a whim, I bought some last weekend, and, wow, have I been missing out! Scapes are incredible and I can’t believe how they have been hiding in plain sight.
Garlic scapes are stalks of garlic plant. I learned that these strange whip-like plant parts are also known as “peduncles,” which are long, leafless flowering stems rising directly from a bulb, or any other plant growth living below ground. And here I thought “peduncle” was some creepy relative your mom wouldn’t leave you alone with. The scape is the stalk of the garlic that is typically removed to focus all the garlic’s growth in the bulb.
Garlic scapes may be part of the garlic plant, but has a milder flavor than the garlic bulb. When cooked, garlic scapes taste like a cross between asparagus and a ramp.
I chopped the stalks into 1” to 2” pieces and sauteed them in a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. They were outstanding on their own, but they really shone when I put them in a plain risotto. They would also be good in pesto, stir fries, omelettes. I am going to buy more this weekend and pickle them.
I had no Arborio rice in the house so I used regular long grain rice. I know this is scandalous. I have to say that while Arborio rice is better, risotto with the rice in the cupboard is more than acceptable if your other ingredients are good. I definitely pimped my risotto with homemade chicken stock which wasn’t entirely de-fatted, so it was particularly rich and velvety. You could achieve an equally good result with vegetable stock and adding some butter in the risotto as you stir it. To that I simply added the sauteed scapes, and topped it with some lemon zest and fresh pepper.
Further proof that good ingredients = low effort.
Risotto (just a generic risotto- you can use any recipe you like)
Ingredients:
2 tbsps unsalted butter, divided
2 tbsps olive oil
2 large shallots, finely diced
salt to taste
1/3 cup of white wine
1 cup Arborio rice
4-5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/3 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
lemon zest
fresh black pepper to taste
Instructions:
Heat up stock in a separate large saucepan or pot. Bring it to a simmer then reduce heat to the lowest setting just so it stays hot.
Place a large pot or dutch oven on a second burner over medium-low heat and add 2 tbsps butter and the oil.
Add shallots and sautee over medium-low heat stirring frequently with a spatula until softened and translucent (don’t brown), about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 tsp of salt. (If I weren’t using garlic scapes I would add a few cloves of finely minced garlic here).
Add rice, increase to medium heat, and stir constantly for 2 minutes until toasted in the oil and butter, about 3 minutes.
Add wine to deglaze the pan and stir until the liquid has absorbed, about 2 minutes.
Add a ladle of hot stock and continue stirring until the rice has absorbed the broth. Add the remaining broth one ladle at a time allowing the liquid to almost completely absorb each time. Continue adding one ladle full at a time while stirring continuously. This process can take around half an hour, depending on your desired doneness.
Once the rice is firm tender, add remaining 2 tbsps butter and freshly grated Parmesan (1/3 cup). Season to taste with salt and pepper.
For the garlic scapes, simply heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and add chopped scapes. Add salt and pepper and fry until bright green and starting to soften, with some browning.
Mix your scapes into the risotto (or layer on top, as I have done) and top with some lemon zest and a few grindings of fresh pepper.
