Roasted Garlic Scapes and Red Curry Bison

One more week, folks!  Next Friday my weekly CSA boxes from Basket of Life Farm start again.  And with that, I’m going to do my best to resume regular blog posts.  I’m thinking that I’ll shoot for Tuesdays and Fridays, so be on the lookout!

While I’m waiting for my CSA boxes, I’ve been frequenting the Countryside Farmers’ Market, and this week was a jackpot!  Garlic scapes as far as the eye could see!  (Okay, maybe not that many, but a lot for sure.)  I ended up buying two large bags – probably 1 1/2 to 2 pounds altogether.  After I made several batches of pesto and garlic scape butter with the larger, longer scapes, I still had a bag of smaller, thinner, more delicate garlic scapes.

I had never tried roasting the scapes before, but it was fantastic!  I just tossed them with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted them in the oven for about 5 minutes at 375 degrees.  It mellowed some of the garlic flavor, and they were tender and beautiful and delicious!

The roasted scapes paired perfectly with a grilled bison ribeye marinated in a mix of Thai red curry paste, olive oil, honey and lime.  The bison steak was also a farmers’ market purchase – from Red Run Farm in Marshallville, OH.  I have had bison burgers before, but never a full on steak.  It was awesome – lean and flavorful, and it went wonderfully with the red curry marinade.  I’ll definitely be buying bison again!

Plus, it gave me a chance to use another purchase from earlier in the season.  In the beginning of May, I bought an assortment of honey from Kline’s Honey Bee Farm.  You can see that they’re labeled Summer, Fall and Buck Wheat.

Each honey has a really distinct, lovely taste.  The Summer honey is light and sweet, the Fall honey is warmer – more like a clover honey, and the Buck Wheat is a dark, almost astringent taste that reminds me of a little of a dark molasses.  Yum!!  I used the Fall honey in the marinade.

Even better – after days of gray skies and rain, the evening was sunny and beautiful!  That means outside pictures and dinner on the back patio.

Thai Red Curry Marinade

• 1/4 cup Thai red curry paste
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• juice of 1 large or 2 small limes
• salt and pepper

Combine all ingredient and mix well.  Pour over steaks (beef or bison, your choice) and marinade at least 1 hour up to overnight.

Grill steaks and enjoy!

This post is linked to What’s in the Box? at InHerChucks.

Everything Salmon

This was a super easy, super tasty workday dinner.

I was re-reading one of my favorite foodie books, Smart Chefs Stay Slim.  If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it!  It’s an fascinating book about how chefs eat and stay healthy, and their attitudes toward food when they aren’t cooking in a restaurant.

In it, Chef Rick Moonen mentions a recipe he makes for “everything-crusted” tuna.  Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onion, garlic, salt – all the things you would find on an everything bagel!  Now, I am a huge fan of everything bagels, so I had been intrigued by this brief description since the first time I read the book.  I’ve never cooked tuna at home, so I went for salmon.

I didn’t have poppy seeds, but I did have black sesame seeds, which worked perfectly.  They gave it the same “everything bagel” look and tasted amazing!

I drizzled some olive oil on the salmon and crusted the top (non-skin side) with black sesame seeds, garlic, onion powder, salt, and some cracked black pepper.  I seared it with the spice crusted side down over med-high heat on the stovetop just until it got golden brown, then flipped it skin-side down and put the pan in a 450 degree oven for about 12 minutes. (The thickest part of the salmon was about 1.5 inches.)

I chopped up some tomatoes and tossed them with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper for a side.  (The chives just made it into the picture for some additional color on the plate.)  It was beautiful, light, tasty, quick and easy – perfect!

Anybody read Smart Chefs Stay Slim?  What’s your favorite book about cooking or eating?