Garlic Scapes: Plan of attack! + maneul jong jangachi (마늘종 장아찌)

As I mentioned, I got a little overexcited at the farm and brought home a giant mess of scapes. Visions of scapes cooked both Korean-style and American (Western?)-style danced before my eyes and...yeah. We've been getting scapes every week too. They're a little tricky to chop because of their curly nature, but I'm going to deal with all of them tonight. No more excuses. rawr.

Also, I realized I've been spelling maneul jong wrong this whole time. FFF. It SOUNDS like 마늘쫑, but it's actually 마늘종. ㅠㅠ...

Ways to use scapes:
- Maneul jong bokkeum aka garlic scape Korean stir-fry (see below)
- Sauteed with a bit of olive oil until slightly charred
- Wash, chop, and freeze in ziploc bags (try and push out all the air from the bags before sealing). Should be fine for later use in cooked recipes or in soups.
- Maneul jong jangachi: need to translate a recipe because I couldn't find anything in English. But this is pretty much my favorite banchan except for maybe the lotus roots and kkakdugi kimchi tops (I told you, I have an unhealthy obsession with stems).

I told my mama I was going to try making maneul jong jangachi and she just was like, "wtf why would you do that? It's too much work. Just go buy it." I, of course, am not going to listen to her because I really do love these things and I already have a bunch in my fridge. But after translating the recipe, I understand what she meant by "wtf" and "too much work." Erughhh.

 ~~~


Maneul Jong Jangachi (마늘종 장아찌)
Note: Not sure what a good translation of this would be, but maybe "Spicy Pickled Garlic Scapes"? Ugh, sounds as bad as describing kimchi as Spicy Pickled Cabbage or soondubu jjigae as Spicy Tofu Stew (yuckyuckyuck). Whatever, it is noms.

I'm dividing ingredients into two sections. The scapes need to be brined first, so I'll list those ingredients first, followed by the marinade/sauce that they will sit in.

Ingredients (brining):
- Garlic scapes (600g of scapes = 1 large bunch of scapes, which is not very precise. Hopefully this works out okay.)
- 3 cups water
- 3 large spoons of salt (literally translates to large spoon. I think that's equal to one heaping kitchen spoon? 1 tbsp? Apparently, the salt solution is supposed to be 5%, or 50g salt per 1L water. But I don't know what that means in US measurements. buh. If this turns out tasting bad, I'll go back and do the conversions and try again.)
- 1 cup minced garlic (optional, but makes everything tastier)

Ingredients (marinade/sauce)
- 6 large spoons gochujang (hot red pepper paste)
- 1 large spoon gochukkaru (red chili pepper flakes)
- 1/2 small spoon anchovy (myeolchi) fish sauce
- 1/2 large spoon vinegar
- 4 large spoons sugar*
- small amount of whole sesame seeds
- whole or sliced garlic cloves (optional)
* The recipe I'm looking at says 1 spoon sugar and 3 spoons "oligo sugar." Wasn't sure what the heck that was, but apparently it's an artificial sweetener. The aftertaste of artificial sweeteners makes me buggy, so I'm going to adjust the recipe and just use regular sugar. Honey might be okay to use as well, but use less since honey is sweeter than sugar.

Directions:
1. Bunch the scapes together and chop off bottom ends of scapes. Discard. Working up from the bottom, chop into 2 inch segments. If your scapes are super duper curly like mine, work in small bunches of 3-4 stems.
2. The recipe I am looking at says to throw away the flower buds and tips, but we all know these are yummy to eat. Set aside and use them in a stir fry or soup!
3. Wash chopped scapes.
4. Boil water and salt in a large pot. When boiling, remove from heat and let cool slightly (to 70 deg C ish)
5. Place chopped scapes in hot salted water and make sure all the stems are fully submerged. If not, make more salt water!
6. OMG. Real time translation means real time commentary. Recipe says to let the scapes sit for 3-4 days. DAYS. I thought my Korean was just sucking and I was reading that wrong, but no. It's days. >.< Okay, let your scapes brine for 3-4 days. This probably means the salt solution needs to be measured fairly accurately to prevent weird things from growing. I believe we're supposed to leave these out to pickle at room temperature (the warmer the room, the better), so I'm going to err on the side of oversalting the water, just to be safe.
7. Wash a piece of scape and taste to see if they are ready. Apparently, if there is a "hot, biting taste" (translated literally), they are ready. They should look a bit pickled and shrivelly. I'm going to include a link to the original recipe below for picture comparison purposes because at this point, I've lost all faith in my ability to follow this recipe by itself and still succeed. T_T
8. If the scape is too salty, place the scapes in a bowl of fresh water and let some of the salt leach out.
9. Wash the scapes thoroughly in clean water.
10. Place scapes in a mesh colander and press out excess water.
11. Spread out scapes over a mesh surface and let drain/air dry for a few hours if possible.
12. Mix all ingredients for the marinade/sauce except the whole or sliced garlic cloves and sesame seeds. If you're not using cloves, add some minced garlic.
13. Adjust seasoning (sugar/vinegar/fish sauce) to taste. According to the recipe, the vinegar brings out the sweetness of the sugar and the fish sauce complements and deepens the saltiness of the dish. Makes sense.
14. Combine the sauce/marinade, whole or sliced garlic cloves, the garlic scapes, and the whole sesame seeds.
15. Mix thoroughly, ensuring that all the stems are fully coated with the marinade/sauce. Err on the side of making too much marinade/sauce*. If there isn't enough, the scapes sitting on the top will dry out and lose their flavor :( or the scapes will start to mold :O
*Tip from me: If you have extra sauce leftover when you finish eating your scapes, you can mix it with plain white rice. Om nom nom.
16. Store in the fridge! According to the recipe, scapes normally go soft in about 6 months, but with the method we used above (blanching in hot salted water), the scapes should stay crunchy and asak asak fresh for a year. O.O A YEAR.
17. As days pass, the scapes will further pickle and become more and more yums. Make some rice and eat your heart out.

I shall give it a go this week and we'll see how this turns out. I really hope I don't give myself botulism or something. Also, I wonder why the maneul jong jangachi at H-Mart always says it's expiring in 2-3 weeks if it can supposedly last so long? They always over ferment everything!!! The kimchi I get from H-Mart also goes sour in less than a month. :(

Anyways...wish me luck.
Original recipe can be found here. The pictures are so, so pretty!!! This lady (or man) is a total pro.

CSA 2013 Partial Share #4

CSA 2013 Partial Share #4
- 1 head Romaine lettuce
- 1 head broccoli
- 1 bunch beets (and greens!)
- 1 bunch Japanese turnips
- 3/4lb garlic scapes

Winner: Japanese turnips. I love these mild, tender, sweet turnips. They're white and small and thin-skinned and they're wonderful in a salad or just sliced into coins and eaten raw as a snack. In fact, I love them so much I swapped out the broccoli for another bunch of turnips. Also, I don't like broccoli. I love the swap box <3
Challenge: I...may have overdone it with the garlic scapes. I now have probably 3-4 pounds of scapes accumulated over the last few weeks. O.O I shall smell, forever. On the bright side, no mosquito bites lately! I can't tell if it's because I managed to kill enough of the pesky little guys (and their dead carcasses on my walls are warning the other ones away) or if it's because garlic blood is less tasty. Whatever the cause, I am not complaining.

* I got my extra chicken! Thawed it out overnight in the fridge and butchered it successfully. Two boneless/skinless chicken breasts pounded flat, two tenderloins, two thighs, two wings, and the carcass for soup! Plus a little bowl of chicken fat that I plan to render later. I didn't realize how much chicken smells though. After butchering and cooking, my apartment smelled like chicken meat for days and I was too chicken (ha) to open the windows because of mosquitos. #firstworldproblems

Korean-style Stir-Fried Garlic Scapes (maneul jjong bokkeum / 마늘쫑볶음)

I adore these things. So much. I think I just like stems in general, because I also love pea tips and sweet potato stems. Something about the vibrant green color and the tender but stringy texture? I have no clue.

Anyways, we did our annual farm trip on Sunday and I carted home a few souvenirs, including a giant bag of scapes that we harvested at the farm on Sunday and a tomato-red sunburn. My nose hurts a bit when I scrunch it and my entire chest, shoulders, and arms make me look like I have mad Asian glow. Oddly, my neck area remained completely burn-free. My coworker is hypothesizing that my chin shaded my neck from the sun, which has now made me self-conscious about the size of my chin.

I was perplexed that people seem to have difficulties using up all their scapes. There's sooo many ways to eat them! They can be sauteed, stir-fried, frozen, pickled, pureed into pesto, sprinkled around like mini garlic bits onto pasta and pizza, and folded into omelettes. They are also one of my favorite banchan, which I found out last year after calling my mom excitedly to tell her about this new and unusual vegetable that I found in my CSA share. She drily noted that while it was good I was excited about discovering new vegetables, I had been eating these all my life in the form of 마늘쫑장아찌 (maneul jjong jangachi).

Unlike lettuce, which gets turned into salad 99 times out of 100, garlic scapes are so versatile that I pretty much never can have too much of them. So...an ode to garlic scapes. Excpect to see a few different posts on them in the coming weeks. My goal this year is to figure out how to make my beloved maneul jjong jangachi from scratch. I was too lazy to translate recipes last night though, so I just went with maneul jjong bokkeum.

Korean-style Stir-Fried Garlic Scapes (Maneul Jjong Bokkeum)
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch garlic scapes
- Soy sauce
- Sugar or honey
- Salt
- Cooking oil
- Sesame oil (optional)
- Toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:
1. Wash scapes and shake off excess moisture.
2. Chop scapes into 1 - 2 inch segments. Keep the buds! They're yummy :)
Optional step: If you want, you can blanch the scapes before stir-frying.
3. In a pan, heat some oil (add sesame oil if desired).
4. When oil is hot, add scapes and stir frequently until scapes have begun to shrivel and darken. Season with salt.
5. When scapes are dark green in color, add a few splashes of soy sauce and some sugar to taste. Not sure about the proportions, but I think equal parts soy sauce and sugar should do it. Too little is better than too much, as you can always add more of both later.
6. Cook for a few more minutes, stirring frequently to ensure nothing burns.
7. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds if desired and serve with rice. Or, if you are lazy like me, eat them with triscuits. Carbs are carbs lol.

CSA 2013 Partial Share #3

Good thing I like green things, because the first few weeks of the CSA season is pretty much solid green, every week. Salads and omelettes have become a way of life and even my eggs are green (from all the extra vegetables I keep throwing into the pan). Nom nom nom.

CSA 2013 Partial Share #3
- 1 bunch spring onions
- 1 head red leaf lettuce
- 1 bunch garlic scapes
- 1 bunch Swiss chard
- 4 oz salad mix (which I really really need to remember to wash tonight)

Winner: GARLIC SCAPES. <3 <3 <3 I adore garlic scapes. They're so cute and so tasty!
Challenge: Lettuce, especially after last week. I still have half a head of red leaf in the fridge (if it hasn't gone bad by now). Le sigh.

I was supposed to get a chicken, but I came at the very last minute and they were out by the time I got there. So I'll probably get one next week or a double chicken share the week after. I am running out of space in my freezer though, so I'm going to try and cook the first chicken with my friend during July 4th weekend.

radis avec beurre et sel

Who knew? Radishes eaten the French way are surprisingly delicious. Slice them thin, top with butter and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt. Eat.

That's it!

I'm not even a huge fan of butter (I know, but hey, at least I like bacon and chocolate...?) or raw radishes (too peppery in large quantities). But the butter goes a long way in moderating the pepperiness of the radish, while the salt brings out and balances the flavors of both. I've heard this combination makes a great sandwich as well, but I didn't have any bread, so I'll have to try that next time.

frisee, bacon, and a poached egg

Fact: bacon makes most things ten times better. Undaunted by all the green heads lolling around in my fridge, I set out to find a tasty way to split an entire head of frisee with my bestie. Just like I tossed in some sausage to balance out the escarole*, I decided to use some bacon to provide some richness and satisfying depth of flavor to the frisee. It was...really, really good. Thanks, bacon! Maybe a little salty, but not noticeably so. We paired the frisee with another garden salad (that head of red leaf lettuce just keeps on giving) and a bottle of Moscato that the bestie picked out. The sweet bubbly was a perfect complement to the bacon and eggs. Now that I think about it, I guess what we really had last night was a dinner version of brunch.


* While looking for the frisee, I pulled out one of the plastic bags in the fridge and peeped inside. Imagine my consternation when I looked into one and saw coarse green leaves with thick white stems that looked suspiciously like escarole... I think we cooked the green leaf lettuce with our pasta last night. Oops.
On the bright side, if I'm correct and if the green leaves in my fridge are in fact escarole and not lettuce, then this means I've found a tasteful, tasty way to cook lettuce! Which would be kind of awesome.

As a side note, I'm making good progress with the share! Remaining items: 1/2 head red leaf lettuce, 1 head of either escarole or green leaf lettuce (TBD), two spring onions, and radishes from share #1.

Wilted frisee with bacon and a poached egg (serves 2)
Ingredients:
- 1 head frisee
- 2 spring onions
- Minced garlic
- 5 strips bacon
- Cooking oil
- Salt, pepper
- 2 eggs

Directions:
1. Wash frisee and green onions thoroughly.
2. Heat a large pan over medium high heat. Throw in the bacon strips and let them cook for a bit.
3. Chop frisee into bite size pieces (they will shrink as they cook down though, so make your pieces a little bigger than you want them to be at the end). Chop green onions and set aside.
4. By now the bacon should be done. Remove from heat and extract the bacon from the pan. Wipe down the pan with a paper towel to remove most of the bacon grease.
5. Heat water in a small pan (add as much water as possible without risking a spill).
6. Add some cooking oil to the large pan and reheat. Once the oil is hot, add chopped green onions and garlic plus a dash of salt. Stir and cook until the garlic begins to turn golden brown.
7. Add the frisee to the large pan in big handfuls. Season with a bit of salt and pepper, and cook until wilted about 5 minutes.
8. While the frisee is cooking, check the water in the small pan. When it's boiling, turn the heat down to low. Crack an egg into a small dish and slide it into the water. Repeat and slide another egg into the pan. Poach to desired level of "doneness." (I personally think leaving the yolk all nice and runny makes a wonderful "dressing" for the frisee).
9. Once the frisee is wilted, remove the large pan from heat and set aside. Take the bacon strips and chop into small pieces.
10. Arrange the frisee into a little nest on your plate, gently place a poached egg in the middle, and top the whole dish with half of the bacon bits. Serve and enjoy the goodness that is bacon.

summer pasta, wine, and best friend

The bestie is in town and this means eating home cooked meals on the reg with company! Since the theme of this week seems to have been death by lettuce, we dutifully built a mini salad of red leaf lettuce, tomato, and cucumber to accompany dinner. Fairly boring, still tasty. More interesting was the main dish: pasta with escarole and sausage.

I had some leftover sausage in the freezer and the logic was that sausage in all its meaty heartiness (lol) would be our saving grace, balancing the escarole and keep us from feeling like reincarnated rabbits. I deliberately kept everything light and simple though, because it’s summer and it’s hot. A chilled bottle of pinot grigio was a perfect complement to dinner and I wondered what it would be like if me and the bestie lived just a little closer. Wistful thoughts :/

Pasta with Escarole and Sausage

Ingredients:

-          1 head escarole

-          2 sausage links

-          Minced garlic

-          ½ white onion

-          1 box spaghetti or pasta of choice

-          Red pepper flakes

-          Salt, pepper

-          Olive oil

Directions:

1.       Wash the escarole thoroughly and tear into bite size pieces.

2.       Chop onion and set aside.

3.       Chop sausage into bite size chunks.

4.       Cook pasta for ~10 minutes or until al dente.

5.       While pasta is cooking, heat some olive oil in a (very) large pan. Add onion and garlic, stirring frequently to keep from burning and seasoning lightly with salt. When the onion just starts to turn translucent, add sausage chunks. Cook until sausage is lightly browned.

6.       Add escarole, one big handful at a time (to keep pan from overflowing). Season with red pepper flakes and salt. When escarole is cooked through (3-5 minutes), remove from heat and set aside.

7.       Drain cooked pasta, reserving one cup of pasta water.

8.       Add pasta to the pan. Drizzle with olive oil and heat everything together over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add reserved pasta water as necessary.

9.       Serve and enjoy!