Garlic Scape and Cherry Tomato Pasta

Every year I pin recipes for garlic scapes and every year I miss the window to buy them. You're most likely to find garlic scapes in your CSA box or at a local farmer's market, but if you have a grocery store specializing in seasonal items, garlic scapes might pop up there as well. Garlic scapes usually start showing up May-June and the window to purchase them is incredibly short (which is why I keep missing it). Garlic scapes are the "flower bud" of garlic bulbs and removing the scapes allows the garlic bulb to devote more energy to plumping up.

I picked up a tangle of garlic scapes at the Farmer's Market and it looks like I will be able to devote at least three blogs to recipes utilizing them.

This pasta recipe comes together quickly and is a nice introduction into using garlic scapes. We cut them into bite size pieces, but some of our stems were a little woody -- chopping them smaller might be better. Overall, we enjoyed the flavor that roasting the garlic scapes brought out and paired with the other summery ingredients, the simple dinner was lovely.

Recipe slightly adapted from Savuer.

Ingredients:
-Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
-1⁄2 lb. spaghetti
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-10 garlic scapes, sliced into bite size pieces
-1 pint multicolored cherry tomatoes
-1 onion, thinly sliced
-1 cup spinach
-1 lemon, zested and juiced

Heat oven to 400° and roast the garlic scapes, cherry tomatoes, and onion for 12-15 minutes or until the cherry tomatoes begin to burst. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add spaghetti and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 8 minutes.

In a large bowl toss the spaghetti, roasted vegetables, spinach, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Drizzle with the tablespoon of olive oil and serve immediately.