Garlic Scape time is now: Here’s a recipe for garlic scapes and rice with red snapper

By: Tom Freeland, HottyToddy.com, Blogger
Update: details about the origins of the garlic were added.
In our yard on the edge of the woods, we have a patch of garlic that originally came from Joyce’s great-grandmother’s farm in Pellahatchie, Mississippi.
When Joyce’s father Burl would get home from school in the Antioch community, he would get some cornbread in the kitchen and go out in the garden and pull off a scape close to the ground to get some of the white with it and eat it raw with the cornbread. He is not sure how his grandmother used the garlic.
When his family moved to Columbus, Georgia, he moved some into a pine woods there, where it thrived. He took some from there to Memphis, and later on to Jackson, Tennessee, the next to last stop in the circuitous route to Oxford.
We use the scapes in the Spring. I’ve not pulled up and dried the garlic in the summer (not sure fully why).
Last night I used the scapes for a simple rice dish to go with beautiful red snapper filets from L&Bs. The quantities here are on the small side (because of dieting).
Rice with Garlic Scapes
2 1/2 tsp butter, total
3 tbs very finely sliced then chopped garlic scapes
1/3 c basmati rice
1 clove of finely chopped garlic
1 1/2 tbs finely chopped Italian parsley
salt, pepper
1. melt 1 1/2 tsp butter in a small saucepan. Add the garlic scapes and cook until soft, 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the rice and stir thoroughly. Cook until it gives off a toasty/nutty smell, stirring frequently.
3. add 3/4 cup of water and bring to a boil, stir with a fork, and cover and turn temperature down as low as it will go and cook for 16 minutes. This quantity of rice is tricky to cook; the greater surface area you have in the pot will mean that more water will evaporate while you are bringing it to a boil, which is why there’s a little more than standard water in this recipe.
4. Put the remaining butter, chopped garlic, parsley, and generous amount of pepper and some salt in the rice and recover for ten minutes or so. Fluff with a fork and serve.
Red Snapper Filets with lemon and garlic scape rice
2 four oz filets of red snapper
salt, pepper, cayenne or gochugang (Korean red pepper)
juice from half a Meyer lemon (use other lemon if Meyers aren’t available
lemon slices (optional)
1 tbs melted butter
chopped Italian parsley for garnish
1. Salt and pepper the filets on both side, then sprinkle a little cayenne on them. Turn them skin side down and pour half of the lemon juice on each. Set aside while you cook the rice.
2. Heat a small cast iron skillet as hot as you can on your stove. If you do not have a good vent on your stove, the rest of this recipe may fill your house with smoke. Test the skillet to make sure it is well and truly hot by sprinkling some drops of water on it to see if it immediately sizzles.
3. Put the fish filet on the skillet skin side down. Pour 1/4 of the melted butter on each. Cook 4 minutes. Turn carefully to preserve the crispy skin. Pour remaining butter on each. Cook another 4 minutes or so on the other side.
4. Put the rice in a nice mound on the plate. Set the fish on the rice. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and parsley. Personally, this is lemony enough for me; some (see below) like lemon wedges for additional lemon.
For the curious, this is about a 349 calorie meal.
Read more blog posts by Tom Freeland at his NMissCommentor blog page.