GARDEN FRESH : How Green Was My Garlic
The bulbs of garlic so cherished by cooks around the world have taken months to develop beneath the earth. After harvest, as with onions, the bulbs are dried and cured. But while you can always find green onions at the market, where are the bunches of green garlic? It’s baffling.
Particularly in view of their flavor. While silky green onions can be as sharp as their crackly skinned elders, green garlic is sunny mildness. You’ll find the difference as dramatic as if you’d eaten dried apricots all your life then discovered an apricot fresh off a tree. Now that I think of it, even if you’re not a garlic fancier, you might be enchanted with the delicacy of green garlic.
So this afternoon I suggest you tuck a few garlic cloves into your garden (garlic reproduces itself not from a seed but from a clove). Healthy cloves from the market are fine--at this time of year, you may find some cloves already sprouting. But taste first. There are considerable differences in pungency among cultivars.
Growing green garlic couldn’t be easier. All you need is full sun and water to keep the soil from drying out. The soil can just be decent rather than sensational, since the bulbs won’t be in it long. However, good drainage is essential. Press the cloves into the soil pointed-end up and an inch deep, then pat the soil firmly. Set the cloves at least the width of three fingers apart. Since the plants won’t be more than six inches tall, they can go in the front of the border. Keep weeds away.
Soon, up will pop four or more slender, flat blue-green leaves nattily creased down the center--I find young garlic has a curiously regal bearing. When a stalk is as thick as your little finger, gently pry it up. Surprise! The elliptical clove has plumped itself into a bulb round and smooth as a pearl onion.
For garlic--green and cured--in perpetuity, plant a few cloves in fine humus-y soil and let them mature. Left in the ground for the best part of a year or more, the round bulb will split itself into cloves, enfolding each with a papery wrapper. Gently lift the bulbs after the leaves have toppled over and most have dried. Dry the bulbs on a screen in a shady spot for a few days, then store them--braided or loose--in a cool, dark, dry, airy place to finish curing. They’ll keep for months.
It doesn’t matter for green garlic, since nuances of flavor haven’t had time to develop, but for dried culinary garlic, you can choose between two forms, silverskins and artichokes. Silverskins are what we get at the market--smooth on the outside and richly flavored when cooked. Happily, silverskins grow well in the west (just ask anyone in Northern California’s Gilroy, self-proclaimed Garlic Capital of the World). Artichoke bulbs are most widely adaptable and generally the most productive, with large cloves bumpily layered like leaves on an artichoke.
Marvelous cultivars of both types--some red, some blushed with pink or yellow--are available through catalogues. Most bulbs are shipped in the fall, traditionally considered the best time for planting, since garlic doesn’t prosper in great heat. Depending upon climate, fall-planted cloves will either give you green garlic in winter or will lie dormant and emerge in spring (well mulched, bulbs can survive at 30 degrees below zero).
In fact, garlic plants in my garden that vanished beneath rampant yarrow last summer just folded their tents, bided their time and later resurfaced--I’m harvesting them now. Where there’s neither heat nor frost, chances are you can plant and harvest green garlic the year around.
Sources. Mail order: Filaree Farm, Route 2, Box 162, Okanogan, Wash. 98840-9774.
As you would imagine, green garlic can be used in any recipe calling for young leeks and green onions--if the warmth of garlic is appropriate. Always include the tender leaves and saute briefly. You might find a hint of anise in the taste of cooked green garlic. This pasta, with many shades of green, is the very essence of spring. For entertaining, all the slicing, chopping and shredding may be done several hours in advance. Serve with a Sauvignon Blanc, chewy bread, a crisp salad with flashes of orange or red, and for dessert probably something chocolate. To make this pasta dish without green garlic, use three green onions and four large garlic cloves.
ASPARAGUS PENNE RIGATE WITH LEMONY GREEN GARLIC SAUCE
1 pound slender young asparagus
3 ounces whole green garlic
1 tablespoon oil
8 ounces penne rigate (short pasta tubes)
3/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 to 2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Hold 1 end of each asparagus stalk in each hand and bend gently. Stalk will snap at point between tender and tough. Discard tough ends and slice tender stalks on bias. Slice pieces 1 1/2 times length of penne. Reserve tips.
Boil stalk pieces, covered, until tender-crisp, about 8 minutes. After 6 minutes, drop in tips. With strainer, lift out asparagus, turn into bowl and cover. Add more water to pot, if necessary, and keep it boiling.
Thinly slice green garlic, using all of green stem. Separate white parts and chop finely. Heat oil in large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add white pieces and saute, stirring, until tender, about 2 minutes. Add stems and leaves and saute another minute. Remove from heat.
Boil penne according to package directions until al dente, about 8 to 9 minutes. When pasta is almost cooked, return skillet with garlic in it to medium-high heat. Add asparagus, 1/2 cup parsley, lemon juice and butter. Turn heat to low. Add 2/3 cup pasta water to skillet. Whisk sauce thoroughly to blend.
Drain pasta and turn into serving bowl. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over pasta and toss. Serve at once in flat bowls. Add sprinkling of cheese and parsley to taste. Makes 4 servings.
Each serving contains about:
330 calories; 262 mg sodium; 21 mg cholesterol; 9 grams fat; 51 grams carbohydrates; 14 grams protein; 1.34 grams fiber.
