How are you using your garlic scapes?

[IL847]

My garlic scape is getting ready. Picked some today and sauteed with meat

[danzeb]

These scapes are pretty potent

They should be mild when cooked.

[SMC_zone6]

First batch of scapes this season. I’ll probably just sauté these in butter.

[mamuang]

For me, stir-fried with oyster sauce with or without meat.

[zendog]

stir-fried with oyster sauce

Care to share more about the recipe? I think I’d like to try it with some tofu.

[mamuang]

Will do. I’ll post it this evening if you don’t mind.

[HollyGates]

We only recently started using oyster sauce at my house for cooking. What a revelation!

Here are the scapes I just picked today. I didn’t have the chance to dig and separate garlic from last year so the patch is now overcrowded and a lot of the plants are small. But they made a lot of scapes. My garlic is in a roughly 2 square meter area. We will probably use them in stir fries. I cut a handful last week and put them into sizzling rice soup I made.

[zendog]

I’m curious if people blanch scapes at all before stir frying or if just stir frying brings down the garlicky intensity on its own. When I’ve used it fresh for a pesto, I always find I need to cut it with kale or something or the garlic taste can be too much. But it might be just a matter of variety or growing conditions.

[IL847]

I don’t blanch garlic scapes for stir fry. The heat /cooking process brings down the sharpness of the garlic flavor

[IL847]

BTW when I see only tips of the scapes were cut, I felt many people don’t know how to harvest the garlic scapes and left out the most tender part of the garlic scapes

[PatapscoMike]

I like to put mine in a gallon ziploc with salt, pepper and olive oil. Shake it around and throw them on a grate on the grill. Give them a good sear then turn the heat way down and cook them for a few minutes until they get tender. So good!

[mamuang]

@zendog,
Admittedly, @IL847 is one the best cooks on this forum. My stir-fried garlic scapes is a typical Thai veggie stir-fry. Stir-frying needs high heat and quick cooking, so I use a wok, not a non stick pan.
Some cooking sites recommend a flat-bottomed, carbon steel pan because of the greater surface area and ability to use high heat.

Ingredients:
Garlic scapes cut into 1.5” long
Cooking oil ( I use Canola)
Oyster sauce
A pinch of sugar
Seasoning soy sauce (optional)
Ground pepper (optional)

Cooking:
Heat a wok using high heat
Add 2 tbsp of cooking oil
Once oil is hot, add garlic scapes
Stir quickly for 30 seconds
Add 2 tbsp of oyster sauce
Add 1/2 tbsp of seasoning sauce (if preferred)
A pinch of sugar
Stir sauce well into the scapes
Turn off the heat
Ground fresh pepper as needed

Served on top of cooked, plain white rice.

Here is the oyster sauce and the seasoning sauce brands I like. Sold at Southeast Asian grocery stores.

[zendog]

Thanks! Sounds great. I’ll have to stop at a shop and look for some seasoning sauce.

[mamuang]

I use those sauces for all stir fried dishes.

If you add tofu, you need more oil and stir fry tofu first. Same deal with meat.

[HollyGates]

From lunch today, to go with grilled pork and rice. Some portion of my scapes, fiddleheads (a couple from my yard, most from the store), peas (a couple from the yard, most from store), and a handful of extra firm tofu. Stir fried in a wok at high heat/short time with oil and garlic, then add some oyster sauce, soy sauce, dash of fish sauce, and a little honey. Yum!

[mamuang]

I usually have chopped garlic going in first but for stir frying just garlic scapes, I did not want to mention garlic for fear that it will be too garlicky for many (not for me).

[HollyGates]

So far I’ve never experienced “too much garlic”. I admit it is possible in theory, just have not tasted it firsthand! I fried garlic in oil until starting to brown, then dump in all veggies and tofu, then at the end the sauce.

[mamuang]

For Thai stir-fry, garlic almost always go in firstbut quickly follow by other ingredients or else it would burnt.

We never havehad too much garlic, either. One of pizza toppings my family likes is roasted garlic

[HollyGates]

Today’s lunch with garlic scapes: stir fried succotash w/scapes!

Corn and limas were frozen. Boil limas until medium cooked, add corn to boilng water for a few minutes, strain the lot. Then stir fry chopped up scapes in olive oil until about 1/2 cooked. Toss in limas and corn with some more oil, stir fry until toasty. Add salt to taste and maybe 2 tsp of honey, dash of soy sauce. Delicious! Should have used more scapes though.

[mamuang]

I had stir-fried garlic scapes for lunch, too, but forgot to take pics. What I did not forget was putting in chopped garlic before the scapes.

I also added 1/2 tsp of ground chili pepper to spice things up. Can’t live without chili pepper.