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Image: Amos Morgan
GREEN GARLIC IS THE skinny fat girl of the spring vegetable world. When you saw her last fall, she was all pudge and paper, freshly fattened on a summer of sunshine. But now, after a silent winter underground, garlic springs into farmers markets with a brand new bod, a young, lithe, round-bottomed version of her plump old self.
Also called spring or young garlic, green garlic refers to the entire Allium sativum plant, picked before its cloves are fully developed. It looks like a curvaceous baby leek, and neither its firm, white (or pinkish) bulb-to-be nor its tall, slim greens look like anything you’d want to stir into your spaghetti sauce. But bend closer and take a whiff: It’s garlic, all right.
“It’s one of those flavors that gives the perfect depth to a lot of our dishes,” says Rachel Yang, Korean-born chef and co-owner of Joule restaurant in Wallingford. “The center of an adult clove—the germ—is the part that contributes most to bad breath,” she says. “Spring garlic also gives great flavor but, because the germ hasn’t developed yet, it’s less offensive. It really makes everything taste magical.”
In Korean cuisine, green garlic and scapes—the glamorous, loopy stems of garlic flowers that farmers harvest early so the bulbs grow bigger—are often pickled in soy sauce and rice vinegar and eaten raw as a crunchy springtime snack. At Joule, Yang creates dishes that combine traditions from Korea and France, using green garlic (minus the roots and the woody tips of the greens) wherever she might include a leek or a scallion—in soups, in stir-fries—or as a quick garnish. To store, she recommends wrapping untrimmed green garlic in a paper towel, then in a plastic bag, and keeping it in your refrigerator’s produce drawer for up to one week.
Look for green garlic at local farmers markets now through June.
The Breath of Gods
Koreans use more garlic than Chinese, Italian, or Spanish cooks for good reason: Garlic is in their blood. According to traditional myths, the history of Korea itself dates back to 2333 BCE, when a bear appealed to Hwanung, the son of heaven, to turn her into a human. Hwanung asked the bear to fast on only garlic and mugwort for 100 days. She did, and so became a woman and Hwanung’s wife, and gave birth to Dangun, the first human ruler of Korea.
RECIPE
Asparagus with Green Garlic and Duck Egg
Yang recommends serving this dish, a Korean version of oeufs hollandaise, for brunch. If you can’t find duck eggs at your local farmers market, simply substitute extra-large chicken eggs.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 large bunch asparagus, ends trimmed
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp smoked chili paste or crushed chili flakes
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 3 bulbs green garlic, white parts only, thinly sliced
- 4 duck eggs
DIRECTIONS
Blanch asparagus spears in a large pot of salted boiling water for 2 minutes, and set aside. Whisk soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and chili paste (or chili flakes) together in a small bowl and set aside.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add 1 tbsp canola oil, then garlic, and sauté for a few minutes until soft. Add asparagus and cook for about a minute, shaking the pan, until warmed through. Meanwhile, in another pan, cook duck eggs sunny-side up in the remaining oil.
Arrange asparagus on plates, top with eggs, and drizzle sauce on top.
Published in the 14 Hottest Companies issue of Seattle Met.
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