Garlic Scapes Stir Fry

 Have you missed me?  👀😉   I've been around, just haven't done a whole lotta cooking the past few months.  I either haven't felt like it or been busy packing up my house, and well, gee, good home cooking hasn't been on my radar.   

And now, I'm in an interesting 'pied a terre, a temporary apartment, and it's just fine.   There is even a two burner cooktop, and I couldn't help but think that this entire apartment, complete with the two burner stove insert was pretty much the same size as the apartment my parents had in Copenhagen, and they had 4 kids there. YIKES!!!  My mom would have been right at home cooking here. The kitchen is teeny, but serviceable, and I'm enjoying the challenge.  

Back to my story, I was first introduced to Garlic Scapes by my one of my sisters, she threw some on the grill and we ate them with a steak I think.  I was offered some scapes the other night and said Yes Please, and came up with the following concoction.  

A Garlic Scape is basically the flower stalk that comes up from the garlic bulb.  Growers cut the flower stalk to encourage the garlic bulb to get larger.  And ummm, the scape is totally delightful.  Mild, very mild garlic flavour.    And it lends itself to so many applications.  I don't have a full on kitchen or my usual supplies handy, otherwise I might have been seduced into making some pesto, with walnuts, or pureeing them and adding to some hummus.  I had all kinds of ideas floating through my head.   And next year, I'll be growing some of my own and then I'll have even more fun.  

But in the meantime, I also had some asparagus, carrots and a couple mushrooms, and decided that they would lend themselves well to a stirfry.   I also had a shallot and well, gee, I had to add it, not just for color but flavour as well. 

I also cooked some pasta to add in, cause my body doesn't think it's a complete meal unless there's either carbs or protein involved somewhere.  

There aren't any kinds of proportions here, just cut up what you think you'll eat and go from there. 

I did start cooking the carrots and shallot first.  Mainly cause carrots take a little longer to cook, and I wanted the shallot to cook and start breaking down a little to add a touch of sweetness to the dish. 

 After letting them saute for a couple of minutes, I added in the rest of the veggies, let them cook to crisp-tender, and finally dumped in some pasta.  (I forgot to take a picture, sigh.)  The only seasoning was a touch of salt, a salt free herb mixture and a couple grinds of black pepper.  And it was insanely delicious.  I ate every bite. 

I'm so totally making this again, but next time I'll actually take a picture of the finished dish.   In the meantime, I've still got some scapes left, along with more asparagus, and I'm wondering how they would taste mixed into some ooey gooey mac n' cheese?