green garlic

Market Matters- Green Garlic Spring Onion Pesto Pasta

29 May 2011
green garlic pesto prep

The Hollywood Farmers Market is in transition. It's a really good time in my opinion for the market. No longer the first blush of spring, but the heat (and abundance) of summer is still a few months away. Which means there's a lot to look at and even more to consider.

You can still find favas and sweet peas. But the first of the stone fruit are starting to make an appearance too. See what I mean? Some of this and some of that. Somewhere between spring and summer. And though the market is indeed evolving with the  seasons, two of my springtime favorites can still be found. Green garlic and spring onions.

At first glance these two vegetables appear sorta similar. They look like a crude cousin of a scallion. A bit bigger, a bit leafier and slightly bulbous. But what they are really are just younger versions of onions and garlic. These vegetables are harvested early and sold fresh without the curing process that develops the dry papery skins. Green garlic and spring onions also are sold with the greens attached, which are edible. In fact they are delicious and I usually use almost all of the greens when I work with these vegetables.

Choosing both green garlic and springs onions is easy. Look for crisp tops and white, pink or purple bulbs. Once you get them home you can slice them and use them as you would a scallion. They both have milder flavors than their more mature versions and are best when used in dishes that highlight their delicacy.

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Bring The Green of Spring to the Table: Three Pea Sauté with Green Garlic and Mint

27 Apr 2010
fresh spring peas

I have been Mr. Springtime flavors here at Sippity Sup lately. Which means my fridge has quite a lot of half used bunches of gorgeous green stuff screaming to be used up while it's still, well– gorgeous and green!

So I am going to sauté the best of the best of my left overs into a really flavorful side dish. Now I warn you it's going to be very, very, (very) green. So if you stumbled over here hoping for something that would knock your socks off (maybe some sweet confection, or double chocolate snow cones with cherry LifeSaver sprinkles), you are going to be grandly disappointed. This isn't one of those BIG BANG "money" posts that people love to drool over. It's not a juicy burger, a rich and creamy pasta. It's not exotic, or particularly enviable. It's not even tied up with a curliqued ribbon.

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Three Pea Saute with Green Garlic and Mint

Three Pea Saute with Green Garlic and Mint
By jgreghenry Published April 27, 2010
Prep time: 20
Yield:1 ()

Ingredients:

  • 2 c fresh english peas, shelled
  • 2 c sugar snap peas
  • 1 T unsalted butter
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 2 green garlic stalks, sliced crosswise in 1/4" rounds, white and light green parts only
  • 0 salt and white pepper totaste
  • 2 c fresh pea tendrils, roughly chopped
  • 1 T mint leaves, chopped
  • 2 T italian parsley leaves, chopped

Directions

Prepare an ice bath in a bowl large enough to hold the blanched English peas. Bring a pan of lightly salted water to a boil, add the English peas and cook about two minutes. Drain the pan and quickly immerse the blanched peas in the ice bath. Set aside. Prep the sugar snap peas by slightly trimming the woody ends, then slice them crosswise (pod and all) into 1/4-inch sections. Heat 1 T butter and 1 T olive in a medium sized sauce pan, set over medium-high heat. Add the sliced green garlic and cook until softened somewhat, about 2 minutes. Add the Sugar snap peas and let them cook undisturbed, until the begin to color. Stir the pan and let them cook another few minutes. They should be slightly caramelized. Add the peas to the pan and cook about 5 minutes, stirring often. Season with a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the pea tendrils, stir to combine. They should wilt some from the heat. Taste for seasoning once more. Sprinkle with mint and parsley, mix well. Serve warm as a spring side dish.

Notes:

serves 4 Source: Evan Funke from KCRW's Good Food

Alice Waters Taught Me All I Need To Know About Green Garlic Soup (with Sorrel)

21 Apr 2010
green garlic soup with sorrel

I want to discuss green garlic again.

In one of the greatest cookbooks ever published, Chez Panisse Cooking, Alice Waters and Paul Bertolli write: "Garlic is commonly used as a mature plant when the bulb containing many cloves has formed. Green garlic is the same plant pulled from the ground at a much earlier stage, before the bulb forms and when the plant resembles a leek, with a stalk about 1/2 inch in diameter.”

That quote was probably my first introduction to green garlic. Though it may have been years later that I actually got my hands on any. Because even in Los Angeles, where we have year round access to the greatest produce in the world green garlic is only just now becoming fairly common at the springtime Farmers Market. To make this point I’ll quote Alice Waters once again: “Until recently, green garlic never appeared in the market and was largely unrecognized by cooks. The quality of green garlic is unique and of great use in the kitchen”.

So you see green garlic is not exactly a new ingredient to me, but it’s not exactly a staple in my life either. It took me a while but reading her words has made me a little bit obsessed with green garlic at the moment. So I am bringing it back for another look. This time in a soup. I have much to learn and Alice Waters may be the perfect teacher.

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Green Garlic Soup with Sorrel

Green Garlic Soup with Sorrel
By jgreghenry Published April 18, 2010
Prep time: 45
Yield:1 ()

Ingredients:

  • 2 T grape seed oil
  • 24 stalks of green garlic, bulb and very pale parts only, roughly chopped
  • 1 large shallot, roughly chopped
  • 0 kosher salt, as needed
  • 3 small young potatoes, such as yukon gold
  • 1 c water
  • 1 q chicken stock
  • 0 white pepper to taste
  • 6 large sorrel leaves
  • 2 T cream
  • 2 T italian parsley leaves, minced
  • 1 T butter

Directions

Heat a medium sized stock pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the oil, the green garlic and the shallots as well as a big pinch of salt. Cook stirring often until the vegetables have softened and a re very fragrant about 7 minutes. Add the chopped potatoes. If you are using a young thin skinned variety there is no need to peel (but you may if you prefer. Get the potatoes well coated with the oil and cook 2 or 3 minutes to combine the flavors. Add the water and continue to cook until the pan is nearly dry, stirring often. Add the chicken stock and bring the heat to low. Simmer about 1/2 hour until the vegetables are very soft. Stir the pot often and break up the vegetables as you work with the back of your wooden spoon. Remove the pot from the heat, add the minced parsley leaves and let the soup cool somewhat before continuing. Using an immersion blender, process the soup until a chunky puree is formed. If you prefer a more elegant presentation you may take this all the way to a smooth puree. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and white pepper. Using a paring knife slit the sorrel leaves on either side of the center stem to remove it. To serve place both halves of a sorrel leaf on the bottom of each of six soup bowls. Reheat the soup to nearly a boil and then stir in a touch of cream and butter. Ladle the hot soup over the sorrel leaves in each bowl. Wait about 1 minute for the sorrel leaves to "cook", then use a fork to bring them to the surface of the soup for presentation. Serve immediately.

Notes:

serves 6