Tag: Garlic scapes

Scrappy, Hempy Courgette Hash

10 Aug 2023

It’s that time of year again when you’ve got more courgettes than you know what to do with so here at KKC we’re looking at scarpaccia from Italy’s Tuscany region. Our take on this crispy tart uses chickpea flour, thinly sliced courgettes, garlic scapes, rosemary, parsley and the mystery ingredient, hemp seed oil.

Try a slice of KCC’s scrappy, hempy courgette hash!

A friend in Uzbekistan recently gave KCC a bottle of locally-produced, premium quality, first pressing hemp seed oil from a company called Leodar. Hemp seed oil adds an earthy, nutty flavour to dishes and salad dressings.

Hemp, the non-psychoactive cousin of marijuana, grows wild in many parts of Central Asia. It’s ideally suited to the arid conditions found here – a much better choice than thirsty cotton. Besides oil, this versatile plant can be used for textiles, paper and bio fuel amongst others.

The return of the scapes!

Regular readers may well remember garlic scapes, the edible stem that grows from the garlic bulb, from a previous recipe – a variation on the mücver theme. This flavoursome peduncle gives a mild garlicky kick to pies and tarts, soups and salads, pesto and stir fries.

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 500 g courgette – thinly sliced with a potato peeler or similar
  • 50 g garlic scapes – cut into 1 – 2 cm slices
  • 2 teaspoons rosemary
  • 5 g fresh parsley
  • 50 g chickpea flour
  • 25 ml hemp seed oil (or any flavoursome oil you have to hand)
  • 75 ml water, including any liquid left over from straining the sliced courgettes

Method

Thinly-sliced courgettes
Garlic scapes – cut into 1-2 cm slices
Combine the courgette slices, garlic scapes and rosemary and mix with your hands until courgette softens and starts releasing liquid
Put in a colander, place a plate on top, weigh it down with some heavy jars and leave to drain for at least an hour
Mix the chickpea flour with the hemp seed oil and water , including any water from the courgettes, to make a smooth batter
Add the parsley and miix the courgettes with the batter
Put the mix into a greased, heavy-based frying pan, press down with a
potato masher and cook over a low heat for ten minutes. Then finish off under a hot grill for another ten minutes until the top is browning and going crispy. Alternatively, cook in the oven for 30 minutes at 180 c.
Cut into four slices and serve.

Hash Greens: More Mücver Variations

17 September 2020

This time round on KCC we’re returning to mücver, Turkey’s versatile courgette fritter, with our take on that brunch staple Hash Browns. This mücver variation adds potato and garlic scapes to the mix to give us a fritter we’ve dubbed Hash Greens.

  • Hash Greens – a mücver variation

These fritters are super-easy to prepare and cook and are great as part of a breakfast or brunch. They can also be served in a roll to make it closer to a veggie burger.

  • Garlic scapes – a long internode that forms the basal part or the whole of a peduncle

We came across garlic scapes, the edible stem that grows from the bulb, on a recent visit to the local greengrocer while looking for green beans. This flavoursome peduncle gives a milder garlicky kick to soups, pestos and stir fries. It’s not an overpowering flavour as it adds a subtler, roasted garlic undernote to these dishes.

Ingredients (Makes 6-8 fritters)

  • One medium courgette (zucchini) (approx 200 g)
  • One medium potato (approx 200 g)
  • One small onion (approx 100 g)
  • 50 g garlic scapes
  • 100 g chickpea flour
  • 25 g mixed fresh herbs
  • One teaspoon cumin seeds
  • One teaspoon chilli flakes
  • One teaspoon turmeric
  • One teaspoon black pepper
  • 50 ml olive oil

Method

  • Grate the potato and courgette and mix together in a large bowl. Finely chop the garlic scapes and add to the bowl. Stir in the chickpea flour and add the herbs (use and fresh herbs you have e.g. parsley, coriander, mint) and spices and mix well so you have a smooth that’s neither too dry and crumbly nor too wet and sloppy.
  • Heat the oil in a frying pan. Form the mix into golf-ball sized patties and then put in the pan and flatten with a fish slice or spatula. Fry until golden-brown on both sides. Serve as part of a breakfast or brunch or in a bun as a burger with toppings of your choice.