More Ideas for Garlic Scape Pesto

We continue to work on way through the 3 cups of garlic scape pesto we made last week...

First there was pizza. This one was topped with the pesto then chopped cottage bacon (oh, so amazing on pizza, not quite bacon, not quite ham), mozzarella and fresh tomatoes. The fresh, mild garlic flavor of the pesto infuses every bite.

But this, this is what garlic scape pesto is made for, Green Eggs and Hash. The hash here is just a mix of seasonal vegetables, radishes, potatoes, onions and cottage bacon. The eggs though are the star. Matt took a heathy spoonful of the pesto and about 1 oz of cream cheese and mixed it in with 4 eggs. Then he just soft scrambled them. These eggs are as light as air with a heavenly garlic flavor and just the slightest tartness from the cream cheese. The were so good we had them again later in the week without the hash.

We still have about a cup of the pesto left, any other good ideas out there?

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Weekly Menu and Farmers Market Finds 6/17 - 6/22/12

It is amazing how quickly the farmers market has gone from just a few spring greens and rhubarb to a huge array of summer vegetables. We are always tempted to buy everything, especially the stuff we haven't had since last summer, but we have to remember what two of us can really eat in a week. Here's what we brought home this week..

Green Beans - This week's they'll just be sides but I want to make some spicy dilly beans soon.
More Strawberries - This batch is mainly for snacking
French Breakfast Radishes - These have been so wonderful raw and cooked. Apparently next week we'll get a new variety that is also quite mild.
Tomatoes - These need a little more ripening, but for this early in the season it's amazing to get them at all.
Bacon and Regular Brats
Zucchini - First of the year. We like to grill these up.

On to Menu Planning Monday...

Green scrambled eggs with toast and cottage bacon - The eggs are green thanks to Garlic Scape Pesto.

Grilled steak with potatoes and broccoli - A hold over from last week.

Pizzeria Lola - We have friends coming in from out of town who want to see what all the buzz is about.

Chicken and Avocado Tacos - The 3 1/2 year old we have visiting loves avocado, so she is inspiring theses.

Pasta with Garlic Scape Pesto and Fresh Tomatoes

Grilled Brats and Hot Dogs

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Kofte Kebabs with Whole Wheat Buttermilk Flat Bread

This dinner was Matt's answer to what to do with 1/2 lb of leftover ground beef without making burgers again. It isn't completely tradition, but it is based on the Middle Eastern dish Kofte. Kofte is usually either ground lamb or beef seasoned with various herbs and spices. It is cooked as a meatball or grilled on a stick as we did.

We decided to serve them similarly to a gyro with tzatziki (yogurt/cucumber sauce), tomatoes, onions and lettuce on flat bread. Matt wanted to make a flat bread from scratch that he could cook on the grill. I thought he would just use our grilled pizza crust recipe, but instead he came up with his own version using whole wheat flour and buttermilk. They were really tasty, but came out thicker than we would have liked. (I ended up slicing them in half to use like a bun instead of wrapping the meat in them.) Matt says next time he'll roll them out thinner before putting them on the grill.

This was a great alternative to burgers. To me it seemed even better suited to hot weather with the cooling toppings. I think kofte is something that will end up in our summer grilling rotation.

Kofte Kebabs

1/2 lb ground beef
pinch of cinnamon
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t coriander
1 garlic clove, grated
2 - 3 T grated onion
1/2 t kosher salt

Mix everything together. Shape into three flat sausages about 1/2-inch thick. Put skewer through the middle length-wise. Grill on high for 2 - 3 minutes per side.

Makes 3.

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Flat Bread

7 oz AP flour
4 oz whole wheat flour
1 t yeast
1 t kosher salt
1 T white sugar
7 oz room temp buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients in a stand mixer. Stir to combine. Add buttermilk and mix until it forms a ball. Knead for about 5 minutes. Let rise for 2 hours until about double in size. Cut into pieces, roll until balls then roll into thin, flat discs (I would shoot for about 1/8-inch). Brush with olive oil and put on grill set at medium-high. Brush other side with oil and flip. Cook 2 - 3 minutes on each side them put on cooler part of grill to continue cooking and keep warm while meat is cooking, about 5 minutes.

We made 4, but they were quite thick so next time we'd probably get 6 out of the recipe.

Serve the kofte and bread with tzatiki, lettuce, onions and tomatoes.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Spring Green Mac and Cheese

When it's garlic scape season at the farmers market we can't resist taking home a big bag.

A garlic scape is the flower stem of the garlic plant. It is removed so the garlic plant will put its energy into growing a bigger bulb instead of a flower. Those stems have a wonderful fresh garlic flavor. I find they tend to be a little milder than your average garlic clove. You can chop them up and use them to replace garlic in recipes, but we like to turn them into Garlic Scape Pesto that we can freeze to use all year.

Matt thought the mild garlic flavor would be great with the spring peas we picked up last week. And even better in a mac and cheese.

This was a fabulous spring mac and cheese. The flavors are so balanced between the spicy scapes, sweet peas and salty cheese. The peas are puréed, so when they and the pesto are added to the cheese sauce everything turns a lovely shade of light green. Fusilli is a great shape pasta for this dish because it holds lots of the sauce in its corkscrews.

Spring Green Mac and Cheese

2/3 lb fusilli
1 T unsalted butter
2 T all-purpose flour
1 c half and half (you could also just use milk)
5 oz gruyere, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
3 oz white cheddar, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 c garlic scape pesto
1 1/2 - 2 c sweet pea pods, puréed (you want to end up with about 1 cup of pea purée)
salt
freshly ground pepper
panko

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and cook while stirring for 1 minute, do not let it brown. Slowly whisk in the half and half to create a thick white sauce. Stir in the cheese until melted. Add the pesto and pea purée and stir to combine. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Mix the pasta and sauce together until the pasta is completely covered. Pour into a large casserole.

Sprinkle some panko on top. Bake for 30 minutes until the top is crispy.

Makes about 4 servings.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Weekly Menu and Farmers Market Finds 6/10 - 6/15/12

This week we really saw the effects of the early warm weather we've had here in the Minneapolis area. Early strawberries, tomatoes in June! We even heard we might see the first corn in three weeks.

Here's what we picked up with week...

Pork Spare Ribs - These are in the freezer to be smoked at a later date
Garlic Scapes - I'll turn most of these into pesto today to be used in lots of different recipes.
Sun Street Granola - Our warm weather breakfast lately is yogurt and granola so we've been trying lots of different local ones.
Tomatoes - So happy to have fresh, seasonal tomatoes again
Broccoli
Strawberries - The last batch was turned into ice cream and this batch will be jam
Foxy Falafel Hummus - Found out we need to get to the market early to get this before it sells out
Potatoes
Boneless Chicken Thighs - I like thigh meat better than breast meat for things like stir-fry because I think it has more flavor.
Plus we still have radishes, eggs, peas and spring onions from last week.

On to Menu Planning Monday & On The Menu Monday....

Pizza with Garlic Scape Pesto, Fresh Tomatoes and Mozzarella

Baked Garlic Scape and Pea Mac and Cheese

Grilled Streak with Roasted Potatoes and Broccoli

Spring Vegetable Hash with Potatoes, Broccoli, Spring Onions, Radishes, Tomatos, Peas and Garlic Scapes topped with a poached egg.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Clash of the Carolinas Barbecue

Over Memorial Day weekend, my cousin and I had a garage sale on Friday and Saturday, so Matt offered to cook dinner for both families on Saturday night. He put out quite a feast smoked pork sandwiches, coleslaw, baked beans, cucumber salad and deviled eggs. The star, of course, was the smoked pork. Matt just loves getting a pork butt and experimenting with seasonings and sauces.

This time his took his inspiration from the Carolinas. South Carolina likes a mustardy barbecue while North Carolina is known for the vinegar based. He decided to mixed the mustard and vinegar flavors together in both the mop and the sauce. Oh, the sauce!

This as such an barbecue amazing sauce, a little spicy, a little sweet and a little tart. We served it on the side at dinner so everyone could add it as wanted. With the leftovers though we mixed the sauce and meat together before refrigerating. I have to say it was better the next day this way. I'd use this sauce again even if we didn't do the same rub and mop.

As with many of our recent barbecue recipes, we did this on our smoker, but you can do it on a grill as well. Just keep the heat low and the meat over it indirectly. I also suggested getting a cheap smoker box especially if you are using a gas grill for more of a smoky flavor.


Clash of the Carolinas Barbecue

Rub and Mop

1/2 c yellow mustard
2 T new mexico chile powder
1 T sweet paprika
5 lb pork butt or shoulder
1/2 c malt vinegar

Mix the mustard, chile powder and paprika together. Rub half on meat after poking it with a knife all over. Cook the meat in a smoker at about 225 - 250 F for about 8 hours until very tender.

Add the malt vinegar to remaining mixture. Use to mop meat every hour or two.

Barbecue Sauce

1 small onion, chopped
2 T unsalted butter
1 T dark brown sugar
1 T new mexico chile powder
3 oz tomato paste
1/2 c yellow mustard
1 c apple cider vinegar

Melt butter and saute onions until translucent. Add sugar, chile powder, tomato paste, mustard and vinegar. Simmer for about 10 minutes. You want it to be relatively thin for a barbecue sauce. Add more vinegar or water to thin if needed.

Chop or pull the cooked pork. Serve with the sauce mixed right in or on the side.

Makes about 10 - 12 servings

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski

Weekly Menu and Farmers Market Finds 6/4 - 6/10/12

Oh man, how long has it been since I've written one of these posts?! Feels like forever. I am still splinted-up but can do more every day including a little chopping in the kitchen. That plus the beginning of farmers market season has me feeling a little more motivated. This is actually the second week at the market, but last week we really didn't get much more than some rhubarb, salad greens and chickens to restore the freezer. This week things are starting to pick up.

Here's what we got...

French Breakfast Radishes - Good fresh and cooked
Sun Street Baguette
Strawberries - These little beauties taste so much better than those giant ones from California in the stores so cheaply right now. We turned most of them into a purée to use in ice cream.
Spring Onions
Fox Falafel Hummus - Matt loves their hummus as an afternoon snack with carrots
Sweet Peas
Sun Street Red Fresno Pepper Jelly - selling sauces and condiments is new for Sun Street. This one is a great start!
Not shown are the goodies we ate at the market like Sun Streets new Cheddar, Sausage and Currant Biscuit and the last Bogart Loves donuts until August (good luck with that new baby, guys!).

A few of the items made their way into last night's "snack dinner." I love snack dinner, it's kind of like a picnic on the couch. The French Breakfast Radishes were so wonderful with some Hope Butter on the baguette. We paired the Fresno Pepper Jelly with both cream cheese and a some local camembert. I think a pepper jelly and grilled cheese sandwich might be in order later this week.

On to the rest of our Menu Planning Monday...

Handburgers and baked sweet potatoes

Chicken Stir-Fry with Radishes, Peas and Spring Onions

Ground Beef Kabobs with tzatziki and grilled flat bread

Pulled pork sandwiches - We made this pork over Memorial Day Weekend and froze the leftovers. I'll share the recipe with you later this week.

Sunday we'll be going to another of the fun beer dinners at Blackbird. This time is Belgium Trippels, I can't wait.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2012 Kathy Lewinski