Week Three

Garlic Scapes! Never heard of them until last week.

This week our box had: garlic scapes, green garlic, cilantro, dill, mesclun, scallions, lettuce, kale, sugar snap peas, broccoli and collard greens.

Never having lived in the south, I've never had collard greens before. The farm handout had a nice recipe from Paula Dean, but since I'm not cooking with ham hocks, it was a good thing I went to the library in the morning. I took out the most amazing book: "Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini" by Elizabeth Schneider.

First I made this nice White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip:

1/3 cup sliced garlic scapes (3 to 4)
1 Tbsp freshly squeeze lemon juice, more to taste
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt, more to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 

In a food processor, process garlic scapes with lemon juice, salt and pepper until finely chopped. Add cannellini beans and process to a rough puree. With motor running slowly drizzle olive oil through feed tube and process until fairly smooth. Pulse in 2 or 3 tbsp water, or more, until mixture is the consistency of a dip. Add more salt, pepper and/or lemon juice if desired.

This was a nice dip for the sugar snap peas which we just devoured raw while cooking the COLLARD GREENS!

I found a recipe in the A-Z book that looked really nice, but it called for 2-2.5 lbs of collard greens. Ours was only 7 ounces. Not knowing collards, and fearing spinach-like shrinkage, I ran out to Whole Foods and bought some more, about a pound. Note: collard greens do NOT shrink as much as other greens so we'll be eating this for a while.

Collards with Sweet Spices and Corn Bread Topping

2 to 2.5 lbs collard greens
2 quarts water
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 tbsp butter (I used olive oil)
1 large onion, chopped
1 tsp ground ginger (I used fresh grated)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground cardamom (I omitted this)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon


TOPPING


3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg (I omitted this)
1 egg
1 tbsp corn oil


1. If collards are large, strip stems from leaves and discard. Stack leave and halve lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips. If collards are small, simply cut both stems and leaves into 1/2 inch slices. Rinse collards in several changes of water.
2. Bring water to a boil in large pot about 10 inches in diameter. Add salt, then collards, and return to a boil. Boil gently, stirring now and then, until tender. Timing varies, but 15 minutes is usual. Drain, reserving liquid. Chop collards quite fine.
3. Melt butter (olive oil) in the same pot over low heat. add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add ginger, cumin, cardamom and cinnamon. Stir a minute or two. Add collards and 1 quart reserved cooking liquid. Simmer gently for a few minutes. Turn off heat.
4. To make the topping: Whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and nutmeg in mixing bowl. In a small bowl, beat egg and oil to blend. Stir in 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking liquid. Pour into dry ingredients, mixing with a fork to barely blend. The batter should resemble thick applesauce; add more cooking liquid if needed.
5. Bring collards to a boil. Drop batter by tablespoons (about 10) over greens, leaving spaces between. Cover pot and boil gently for 10 minutes. Uncover and boil a few minutes longer, until dumpling tops become nearly dry to the touch.
6. Serve hot, accompanied by hot pepper sauce, if desired.
Serves 3-4 as a main dish, 6-8 as a side dish.


Variation: to serve as a vegetable dish without topping, follow the recipe through step 3, adding just 1 cup of the reserved liquid instead of 1 quart.



This dish had a very nice flavor from the spices. The collards were sweet and lovely. Even the picky girl really liked it.







That's probably it for this week. I'm freezing the dill and cilantro, making some salad, yadda yadda.