Green Garlic; Fennel - my first foray into these items

[murphysranch]

Today, from my CSA delivery, I've encountered two items which I have never bought nor used, and in one case, never heard of.

Green Garlic: what is this? Just garlic that has not been allowed to mature? The two stalks are stunning - baby garlic bulb on the end with a very long straight stalk.

Fennel: Heard of this, eaten it years ago, but never bought it. Safeway never carried these. This vegetable is so so pretty - whitish bulb with lily like stems with fern tops.

Ok, now what?

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Green garlic . . . as in garlic scapes? I make pesto with them. You just blend them with olive oil, pine nuts, and salt. Very tasty. You can also use them in stir fries.

Fennel, you can caramelize like onions or with onions. That is how I use it.

 

[hennypenny9]

I got green garlic in my produce bin yesterday! It's not CSA, strictly speaking, but some of the produce is farm direct, and the green garlic was one of those. I was wondering what to do with it. Pesto sounds good. No basil with it?

 

[murphysranch]

Do I use the pretty stalks too, or just the bulb?

 

[Henrietta23]

DH's Italian family fennel recipe:
Cut th bulb into slices, dip in good quality olive oil, dip into sea salt. Eat.
Only you must used the Italian name for it, finnochio.

 

[Ldychef2k]

Fennel is also awesome raw in a salad with spinach, red onion, citrus and avocado.

 

[Henrietta23]

You can use the fennel fronds like dill, but they'll have a mild licorice taste instead.

 

[patandchickens]

Fennel is also good in coleslaw; or as a replacement for up to 1/2 of the onion in onion relish (like you would can to put on burgers etc).

Garlic scapes, I've always found the stalk part too woody but you could see what yours is like; the flower part on the end can be chopped up and used like garlic.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[big brown horse]

I've had Drake's garlic scape pesto, it is to die for!!

I have made stir fry with garlic scapes and they were good too. (Never had a "woody" stalk issue.) The stir fry however was not as good as Drake's pesto, YUM!!

 

[TanksHill]

Fennel is one of the vegetable I chop and add to my pasta sauce. Just one more dimension to the flavor.

It's also supposed to be good for the libido. :bun

gina