Green garlic is garlic that hasn’t formed a bulb yet. It is the immature stalk of what will someday become a head of what most people recognize as garlic. It looks similar to a bright green baby leek and can be used almost in its entirety.
Here are two easy ways to use this incredibly young, mild and ‘green’ garlic we cook with all spring.
The first is a quick Springtime Bolognese Sauce:
Lean pork, grass fed beef and quality Italian sausage browned in olive oil mark the beginning of this sauce.
Add the green garlic along with aromatics and spices like fresh thyme, white pepper and chili flakes.
Using quality canned tomatoes is paramount. Remember that the most expensive brands aren’t always the best.
Nutmeg and bay leaf give the sauce depth, even with a short amount of cooking time.
Simmer the sauce for about 45 minutes. This is long enough for the tomatoes to fall apart and create a light but uniform sauce.
Finish the sauce with fresh Italian parsley.
The Sauce is best used right away but will freeze nicely (just don’t add parsley until ready to serve).
To make a Springtime Minestrone Soup we start with celery, onion, green garlic and carrots all slowly sweated together in olive oil.
Add Spices and aromatics like nutmeg, chili powder, thyme, bay leaf, mustard seeds and white pepper.
Make sure to have tomato paste, home made chicken stock and parmesan cheese ready.
Add tomato paste to the sauté and cook slowly until the mix takes on a rusty color. Then add the stock and simmer for no more than 30 minutes.
Add a couple different kinds of beans to the pot and maybe a nice vegetable like cauliflower (and if you like, a small amount of pre-cooked pasta).
We love to top our minestrone with Arugula Pesto. For that we use Parmesan cheese, toasted almonds, wild arugula, green garlic, olive oil and a Vitamix.
A beautifully finished bowl of Springtime Minestrone with Wild Arugula Pesto and extra Parmesan cheese.
