How Green Was My Breakfast

As an adult, I have lost my taste for overly sweet breakfasts. When I was a kid, I would regularly take the maple & brown sugar flavor of instant oatmeal, and then add more brown sugar to it. (This goes to show that permissive parenting and large quantities of sugar don’t destroy lives. I think I also put sugar on Frosted Flakes.) I still like maple syrup, and cinnamon buns, and chocolate croissants, but I’ve learned that including things like that in the first meal of my day just doesn’t work for me. Which is fine, because I have no problem eating a chocolate croissant as a mid-afternoon snack, or including maple syrup in any number of other things. But it complicates breakfast. 

The other complication is that I’m not usually ready to eat anything immediately after waking up. I like to have a cup of coffee right away, followed ideally by sitting with the paper, or my email, or the television for a while before I eat anything, often an hour or more later. The analogy C.’s dad gave me for this, which I really like, is that it’s like turning on a helicopter’s engine and waiting for the blades to start spinning up to speed before you take off. The problem, on weekdays, is that it means I need to bring my breakfast to work with me. Lately that means cereal, or pukkola*, which are definitely more sweet than savory, but still not covered in maple & brown sugar. Also they are highly portable, and require no special handling during my commute on the subway.

On weekends, I try to get more imaginative. This breakfast started with garlic scapes. I had been hoarding them for two weeks, with the intention of making garlic scape pesto for the first time, and last weekend, I finally made good on that promise.

Every garlic scape pesto recipe out there is more or less the same, mostly just varying in what kind of nuts to use, and the specific ratios. (There are some vegan versions out there, but I can’t attest to those.) It should all be to taste, anyway, and dictated by what you have in your kitchen. The ingredient list is: scapes, some kind of nut (pistachio, almond, pine nut are all fine–I used walnuts), parmesan, and olive oil, with an optional squeeze of lemon (I opted For). Puree in the Cuisinart and adjust flavors as necessary.

I will say, I didn’t quite anticipate how spicy this pesto would be. Garlic scapes are so much more mild than full-grown garlic that I was expecting it to be similarly mellow. But there are 8 large scapes in this thing, providing the bulk of the volume of the sauce, so I shouldn’t really have been surprised. Garlic is still garlic, especially when you puree the stuff. (Science break: the chemical that makes garlic spicy is contained in each cell, and released when you break down the cell walls. So the finer you chop or mince or puree raw garlic, the spicier it will be.)

Anyway, the breakfast construction came the next day. It involved some pumpernickel bread, a smear of pesto, some thick slices of avocado

a layer of cooked, chopped spinach, and some sliced basil leaves. And a sprinkle of sea salt & a drizzle of olive oil.

I liked it so much, I helped myself to seconds, and had it again the following day. I think even C. would enjoy this, although as lunch rather than breakfast. (She is of the opinion that breakfast is a meal that should not be contaminated with vegetables. She also wakes up starving and waits to have coffee until long after she’s eaten. It takes all kinds.)

*Note to self: write a post about pukkola when apple season starts again.

Garlic Scape Pesto

makes 1 cup

8-10 scapes, chopped roughly

1/3 c walnuts

1 oz parmesan

1/3 c olive oil

2 Tbsp lemon juice

Puree the scapes, walnuts, and parmeson in a food processor. With the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil and lemon juice. Taste for seasoning and add more of anything as needed. Store in the fridge or freezer.

Avocado & Spinach Tartine

serves 1

1 piece dark bread

garlic scape pesto

1/4 avocado

1/2 c cooked spinach, roughly chopped

4-5 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

sea salt

olive oil

Spread the pesto on the bread, then pile everything else on top in order. Best eaten with a fork & knife.

On Things I Would Do Differently Next Time

Just because I’m detoxing doesn’t mean I can’t eat like a person. Especially with all these wonderful green things showing up in my fridge. The general guidelines for this week’s meal plan (my own adaptation of Alejandro Junger’s “Clean” elimination diet, which I found through goop.com) are geared towards making your digestive system work as little as possible, and for as few hours a day as possible. Hence cutting out things that are difficult to process (gluten, dairy) and designing meals that are liquid as often as possible. Specifically, the recommendation is to have a liquid breakfast and dinner, with a solid meal for lunch. Which translates into smoothie, salad, soup, repeat.

Tuesday night’s dinner was a spinach soup, inspired by one Orangette made a couple of years ago but sans butter or creme fraiche. And with scapes instead of green garlic, because that is what Stoneledge gives us. The actual preparation is so simple as to barely warrant a recipe: cook the garlic in a bit of olive oil, add some water or vegetable broth, add the greens, and probably some salt, cook just until they’re soft, and then blend up the whole mess. Actual amounts don’t really matter, nor do cooking times. It’s all, as the saying goes, to taste. (And in fact, the ingredients themselves don’t matter so much, either–use onions or scallions or leeks in place of the garlic, and chard or peas or broccoli for the spinach, it’ll all be delicious.) What follows are some tips on what you should watch out for should you make this soup yourself.

First, when you’re chopping up the scapes, if you have any trouble slicing through them (especially towards the bottom end), if your well-maintained chef’s knife meets any resistance, don’t use that bit. Trust me.

The spinach should cause you no issues. We get a variety called “summer spinach,” which I’m told is not actually spinach at all, but tastes really the same. It might be something called tetragonia, but I’m not sure. Either way. Baby spinach, even frozen spinach would be fine.

Next, it is advisable to slice the scapes a bit smaller than this. Cook them until they’re a bit soft, maybe starting to brown.

Add the water (or broth) and the oh-so-easy spinach…

Orangette recommends a very short cooking time once you add the spinach. Since mine was this wacky variety, not baby spinach, I wasn’t too concerned about that, but it’s something to keep in mind.

Next hurdle: blending hot liquids. NB: No matter how small an amount you think you’ve ladled into your blender, in batches, I can promise you that at least once you will wind up spattering soup all over the counter. And your arms. And possibly the floor. And any recipe cards that might be lying around because you’re too lazy to tuck them away once you’ve finished with them. So please, a half a cup at a time, no more. That said, my blender (inherited from my grandparents) is really pretty awesome, but I concede that a newer, larger model, with a lid that seals a bit more securely, might be able to handle a slightly larger quantity of soup.

And at last, the finished product. Note that if you did not successfully cut off the very tough bottom bits of the scapes, you’ll need to strain this soup–either in a seive or through your teeth. Personally I would not recommend either method. The first leaves you with a very watery soup and none of the delicious, hearty texture of the cooked spinach. The second just interrupts your meal and translates into a soup you really can’t serve anyone but yourself.

Really, though, it’s a very simple recipe…

Spinach and Garlic Scape Soup

5 oz. spinach, washed, any thick stems discarded
3 garlic scapes
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 c. water or vegetable broth
salt & pepper to taste

Slice the garlic scapes into small pieces, 1/4-1/2″, discarding any tough bits.
Heat a pot over medium-low heat and add the olive oil. Toss in the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to soften and brown. Add the water or broth, and, unless your broth is salted already, a bit of salt. Bring to a soft boil.
Chop the spinach leaves into pieces, and add them to the pot. Cook just until the spinach starts to soften. Turn off the heat.
Ladle the soup into a blender, 1/2 cup at a time, and blend until smooth, pouring each portion into a bowl. When the whole pot has been processed, taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if necessary. A little lemon juice might be nice, too. (And if you are not detoxing or vegan, a spoonful of creme fraiche on each bowl will probably be delicious.)
Serves 2 for a light dinner, or more as a side dish.

Catching up — weeks #1-3

Lemon Balm (week #2) Syrup

1 1/2 c. water
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 bunch lemon balm

put all ingredients in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes. turn off heat and steep an additional 15 minutes. strain. chill.

Lemon Balm Martinis

2 Tbsp. lemon balm syrup
4-5 Tbsp. vodka

mix over ice. pour into chilled glass. serve with a lemon twist.

garlic scapes (weeks #2 & #3)

White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip

courtesy of the New York Times

Penne with Bright Lights Swiss Chard (week #3), Garlic, and White Beans

adapted from Gourmet

Summer Spinach (weeks #2 and #3) with Chickpeas

courtesy of Madhur Jaffrey in Saveur
cool collapsible tupperware courtesy of my sister, Lindsay