Garlic Scapes Recipe: Garlic Scape Carbonara
by Sarah W. Caron • June 29, 2009 • pasta, Recipes • 23 Comments
Last year, while trolling a local farmers market, I discovered some curly green shoots that were unlike anything I had ever seen. Vibrantly green and mostly firm, save a slight grassy portion at the top, I took a few garlic scapes home and cooked with them … and promptly fell in love.
What were they strange, unfamiliar things? Garlic scapes. But since garlic scapes have a sadly short season (they are, after all, the flowerings shoots that come off of young, immature garlic and are cut off on purpose), I didn’t get a chance to have them again last year.
So, I waited. And waited. And waited. And when the farmers market that I used to go to didn’t open earlier this month (it seems that a lack of popularity has shuttered the hit or miss event), I though I had missed another round of my delicious garlic scapes discovery all together.
But I didn’t.
Last week, when Will and I hit the farmers market in the pouring rain, the first thing I spotted as we snuck in between two booths was … bunches of garlic scapes. Of course, I immediately purchased some, with visions of this garlic scapes recipe already dancing in my head. Last summer, I was playing around and crafted a Garlic Scape Carbonara pasta. It was delectably creamy with lots of garlic taste (but without the bite of matured garlic).
I’ve literally been waiting for a year to share this. It’s divine, delicious and delovely. I suggest you try it too.
Garlic Scape Carbonara
serves 4
This pasta is fantastic as a meal served with a big garden salad and some crusty bread. If desired, add a half-cup of fresh, lightly cooked peas to the mix for a little added nutrition (and sweetness).
1/2 lb campanella pasta, or shape of your choosing
4 slices bacon (about 3 1/4 ounces), chopped
1/4 cup garlic scapes, cut into 1/4 inch coins
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
Set a pot of water to boiling on the stove and cook the campanella pasta (or desired shape).
While it’s cooking, cook the bacon over medium heat until browned. Remove the bacon pieces with a slotted spoon and add the garlic scapes. Cook until soft (2-3 minutes). Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. (Drain both the bacon and the garlic scapes on a paper towel).
Whisk together the eggs, salt and red pepper flakes.
When the pasta is done, quickly remove it from the stove and set a different burner to low heat. Drain the pasta and add it back to the pot, on the burner set to low. Stir in the garlic scapes and bacon. Add the egg mixture and stir feverishly for 3-4 minutes until sauce is thick and creamy. Don’t let it overcook or it will be gloppy. Sprinkle the romano cheese in, a little at a time, and stir to combine. Don’t add it all at once or it won’t mix through out the pasta as well (since it will clump).
Serve immediately.
More garlic scape recipes:
- Garlic Scape Marinated Roasted Red Peppers
- Garlic Scape Risotto
- A Nut-Free Garlic Scape Pesto at Kalyn’s Kitchen
- White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip at New York Times
- Octopus with Fingerlings and Garlic Scapes at Foodista
- Grilled Garlic Scapes at FoodieTots
- Pickled Dilly Garlic Scapes at Becky and the Beanstock
Oh wow – that sounds sooooo good! Great pics too!
I haven’t been lucky enough to find garlic scapes, but hope to next year when they are in season! Your recipe looks so perfect for a summer dinner!
I had been wondering what these curly things were! Man, am I glad you posted this – I tried them last week and they were delicious! I tried pesto – and if you haven’t tried it yet, def do – much stronger flavor, reminded me of ramps. Then I did a bacon pasta dish inspired by your recipe and MAN possibly one of the best pasta dishes I’ve made!
maybe try garlic chives as a substitute, if garlic scapes are out-of-season. garlic chives are available mail-order and are in season until first frost.
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Why couldn’t one sprout a couple of heads of garlic
to get scapes?
I have been growing garlic in my ‘Victory Garden’ for 15 years. I don’t harvest all of it for cooking, but every 2 years I gently pull the heads (they are small) separate & replant a little further apart. I keep it at both ends of the bed so I can dig or double-dig without disturbing it. Thus I have my own scapes every spring here in the Hudson Valley. The greens are up 10″ today, so the scapes will be soon to come. They keep very well in the veggie drawer, also. Congrats on the Saveur Best of the Web, Sarah!
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One of the advantages of growing your own garlic (I think that is the easy part) is you can go out to your garden and get your own scrapes when you need them. This was a wonderful dinner (and a leftover lunch). A real keeper.
I tried the above recipe for Garlic Scape Carbonara last night. OMG, it was sooooo good, although I was a bit heavy-handed on the pepper flakes. I will definitely try the recipe again (like maybe next week) but will reduce the amount of pepper flakes. I don’t like things too spicy. Thanks you sharing that recipe.
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I just got some scapes from my farmer. How do you prepare them, exactly? Do you chop ‘em up? Do you eat the whole thing? Your recipe just tells me to cook them… but how?
THANKS!
Shaun
Hi Shaun, the whole scape can be used — just cut them into 1/4 inch coins, as stated in the ingredients, and saute as directed. Good luck! I’m hoping to get some this weekend.
Hi! I’m a late arrival to your post but wanted to share my delight! I joined a CSA this year and have been scratching my head for ideas to use the garlic scapes. Your recipe was the perfect answer. Quick and delicious. I also added cherry tomatoes. Yum! Thank you for sharing
I would like to suggest that carbonara is a sauce for long pasta. The eggs tend to get gunked up into all the ridges and curls on your typical sort pasta, like campanile.
Otherwise, great recipe!
Er, I meant “short” pasta.
Psipsina, you can use any shape/type of pasta you prefer. I really like the way the sauce works with this type of pasta, since it really gets (as you said) into the ridges and curls — it’s a preference. With a long pasta, like linguine or angel hair, the sauce wouldn’t be so integrated into the pasta.
I encourage you to try this with long pasta, because I don’t think pasta shape in any recipe is mere preference. Some treatments lend themselves better to different shapes, and I think you’ll simply get better results with long pasta.
In Italy, carbonara is nearly always served on spaghetti, and there’s a very good reason. To get a creamy sauce, you need to keep the eggs from curdling in scrambled-eggy lumps, and the way to prevent this is to keep the eggs in constant, fast motion. The slipperiness of the long pasta assists with this, whereas a short pasta shape with ridges, holes, ruffles, or doodads where the egg can get caught mean that the egg stays still, and scrambles.
Of course, if you use long pasta, you need to chop the bacon and scapes much finer, and when I chopped the scapes finer, I found I needed twice as many to make their presences known. But who could complain about extra scapes?
Again, thank you for your comments — And very interesting on the cast iron! I don’t typically use my cast iron for pasta, but that is certainly good to know.
Oh, one other thing – if you use a very heavy pot, like enameled cast iron, to cook the pasta, you don’t need to put it back on the heat. This type of pot holds heat very well, and adding more heat might cause the eggs to scramble.
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Love love that you cooked them in bacon, i just discovered these this year and i am going crazy, literally, trying NOT to ewat them all raw. Thank you for a beautiful post!