Erica De Mane

Spring Garlic at the Union Square Greenmarket.

Recipes:

Snap Peas with Pancetta, Young Garlic, and Mint
Cavatelli with Shell Peas, Squid, and Young Garlic
Grilled Trout with Black Olives and Tarragon and Young Garlic Vinaigrette
Chicken Roasted with Limoncello and Young Garlic

Fresh young garlic is absolutely my favorite warm-weather vegetable, and I wait for it all year, dreaming of its fragrance. In early June the first, skinny garlic heads, with their long green stalks, start piling up in stalls at the Union Square Greenmarket. They have a sweet, fresh garlic taste and a juiciness you always guessed garlic must possess at some point in its development. They look almost exactly like scallions. The great thing about them is that you can eat a lot of them without feeling garlicked out. I slice them, stalk and all, and scatter them raw over a salad, something I would never in a million years do with the dry, sharp, garlic I find in the supermarket in the winter. (In fact, often in the dead of winter I forgo garlic altogether, turning to leeks or shallots for that flavor base.)

A few weeks into June the long stalks start to form small heads at the root end, but individual cloves are not yet completely discernible. As the summer unfolds, the garlic develops cloves and the heads become bulbous and more recognizable as garlic. This is when garlic reaches its peak of flavor, around the end of June. I use it raw in string-bean salads, and flash-cooked in a skillet with shrimp or calamari. It makes the sweetest spaghetti aglio e olio imaginable. To make that, I thinly slice three medium heads, using some of the tender green part, and place them in a cold skillet with about 4 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil (since I love this pasta so much, I may choose a really first-rate oil, such as Ravida, my all-time favorite Sicilian one). I turn the heat to medium and let the garlic and oil slowly warm through, stirring it around frequently, just until the garlic begins to turn the slightest bit golden, about 5 minutes. While the garlic is sautéing, I cook about a half a pound of spaghetti in a big pot of boiling, salted water. When the garlic is golden, I add a generous splash of dry white wine, letting it bubble for a few seconds but leaving some liquid in the skillet. This stops the garlic from getting too brown and adds a gentle acidity to the sauce. When the spaghetti is al dente, I drain it and add it to the skillet. I now sauté it over medium heat for about a minute, adding salt and a few generous pinches of Aleppo pepper. Then I turn off the heat and add a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley, the leaves from a few large thyme sprigs, and a generous drizzle of fresh olive oil. Toss gently, and that’s it. This makes two large servings.

The fresh garlic at my Manhattan Greenmarket during the summer is all of the hard-neck type, recognizable by the hard stalk running up through the center of the bulb. It is mostly of the rocambole strains, which I love for their almost complete lack of bitterness. Depending on the variety, they can be beautifully tinged with violet or pure, creamy white. One purpled-tinged one called Italian red I especially like. The hard-necks don’t dry well, though, and need to be used fresh. The garlic you find in supermarkets in cold weather is soft-neck, usually grown in mass in California. The heads are dried, which preserves them a few months, until they start sprouting, going soft, and getting really terrible-tasting.

Garlic strikes me as fairly easy to grow, but that may just be because of a streak of luck I had a few years ago when I successfully grew a few heads in a pot on my building’s stoop on 13th Street. I didn’t know how to tend to them and actually wound up not tending to them at all, out of sheer ignorance and laziness. It was thrilling and surprising to pull the things up at the end of June and find real garlic heads buried in my little pail of dirt. This was city farming on a really dopey, minuscule scale.

Happy summer garlic cooking to you.

Snap Peas with Pancetta, Young Garlic, and Mint

Snap peas are so sweet and tender that a flash in the pan is all they really need, heatwise. I pair them here with a triumvirate of Italian flavors: garlic, pancetta, and mint. Try serving this dish with my Chicken Roasted with Limoncello and Young Garlic (below).

(Serves 4 as a side dish)

Extra-virgin olive oil
2 thin slices pancetta, well chopped
1 head young garlic, thinly sliced, including some of the tender green stem
2 cups snap peas, the side strings removed
A few sprigs of thyme, the leaves chopped
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
A splash of dry white wine
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
About 6 mint leaves, cut into thin strips

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the pancetta and sauté until just starting to crisp. Add the garlic and sauté about 30 seconds longer, just to release its flavor. Add the snap peas and the thyme and season with salt and black pepper. Sauté about 2 minutes, stirring often. Add the white wine and let it boil away. Add a splash of warm water and cook for about a minute longer. The snap peas should be just getting tender but still have a good snap to them when you take a bite. Add the butter and the mint leaves and toss gently. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve hot.

Cavatelli with Shell Peas, Squid, and Young Garlic

Shell peas and fairly tiny squid arrive at my local Greenmarket in late spring, and with the addition of young garlic and a few herbs, they combine to make an elegant pre-tomato pasta.

(Serves 4 as a main course or 6 as a first course)

Salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 thin slices pancetta, chopped
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
1 young garlic bulb, thinly sliced, including some of the tender green stalk
2 cups fresh, shelled peas (a little under a pound before shelling)
1 branch thyme, the leaves lightly chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
A few scrapings of nutmeg
A tiny pinch of ground cinnamon
3/4 cup low-salt canned chicken broth
1 pound cavatelli
1 pound small squid, cut into rings,the tentacles left whole
A generous splash of dry white wine
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
A squeeze of lemon juice
A handful of flat-leaf parsley, the leaves lightly chopped

Put up a large pot of pasta cooking water and bring it to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the pancetta and sauté until it just starts to crisp, about 3 minutes. Add the shallot and garlic and sauté about a minute longer, just to release their flavor. Add the peas and season with half of the thyme and the salt, black pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and sauté about a minute longer. Add the chicken broth and simmer, uncovered, at a lively bubble until the peas are just tender, about 5 minutes. You should still have a bit of liquid left in the skillet.

Drop the cavatelli in the water.

In another skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over high heat. When hot, add the squid, seasoning it with a pinch of salt and spreading it out in the skillet. Sauté, turning the pieces only once, until they’re opaque and tender, no longer than 3 minutes total. Add the white wine and let it bubble for a few seconds. Add the squid, with any skillet juices, to the peas.

When the cavatelli is al dente, drain it and pour it into a large, warmed serving bowl. Pour on the peas and squid. Add the butter, an extra little drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, the remaining thyme, and the parsley. Give it all a gentle toss. Taste to see if it needs extra salt or black pepper. Serve hot.

Grilled Trout with Black Olives and Tarragon and Young Garlic Vinaigrette

Tarragon, black olives, and garlic make a lovely flavor combination, I find. I use it often, not only with fish but also with sautéed chicken and roasted lamb. And it works well with summer zucchini too.

(Serves 4 as a main course)

For the vinaigrette:

The grated zest from 1 lemon, plus 2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 young garlic head, minced, including some of the tender green stalk
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 large sprigs tarragon, the leaves chopped, plus 4 nice looking whole sprigs for garnish
Salt
A pinch of ground clove
A pinch of Aleppo or cayenne pepper

For the trout:

1 large bunch arugula, well-stemmed
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
A generous pinch of Aleppo pepper, or a smaller pinch of cayenne
4 trout fillets, with the skin on (look for larger single-serving ones, about 1/2 pound each, or a little smaller for lesser appetites)
A handful of small, black Niçoise olives, pitted and halved

To make the vinaigrette, place the lemon zest and juice and the garlic in a small bowl and give it a stir. Whisk in the olive oil. Add the tarragon, salt, a pinch of ground clove, and Aleppo or cayenne pepper. Set aside (this will gain flavor as it sits for a few minutes).

Heat an outdoor grill or an indoor grill pan to a steady medium-high heat. Dry off the trout fillets and brush both sides with olive oil. Season with salt and Aleppo or cayenne. Place skin side down on the grill and grill until they’re nicely browned, about 4 minutes. Flip the fillets and grill the other sides, until you see nice grill marks and the fish is just tender, about 2 to 3 minutes longer.

Place a handful of arugula leaves on each dinner plate. Top with the trout fillet, skin side down. Scatter on the olives, and drizzle each fillet with a generous amount of the vinaigrette, giving the arugula a little drizzle too. Garnish with the tarragon sprigs. Serve hot.

Chicken Roasted with Limoncello and Young Garlic

This is an updated version of classic Italian-American chicken with lemon and garlic, which is usually sautéed. This one is crisp and juicy and slightly sweet from the limoncello. I love it served with warm cornbread and my Snap Peas with Pancetta, Young Garlic, and Mint (above). I would never serve two garlicky dishes at the same meal in the winter, but that’s the beauty of fresh, summer garlic. You can never get enough.

(Serves 3 as a main course)

1 free-range chicken, 3 1/2 pounds or so
1/4 cup limoncello liqueur
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
The grated zest from 2 lemons, plus 1 lemon cut into thin rounds
2 heads young garlic, thinly sliced
A few large marjoram sprigs, the leaves lightly chopped
Salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
A handful of basil leaves, sliced into thin strips

First you want to remove the backbone from the chicken. This is much easier than it sounds. Stick a pair of kitchen shears in the rear end of the chicken and cut first along one side of the backbone all the way up to the top, and then along the other side, until the backbone is freed. Now turn the chicken over and flatten it out by pressing on it with your palms (you’ll hear some bones crunching). Place the chicken, skin side up, in a low-sided baking dish that will hold it rather snugly. Pour on the limoncello and the olive oil and rub into the skin all over, getting a little underneath. Sprinkle on the lemon zest, the garlic, and the marjoram. Season with salt and coarsely ground black pepper all over. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate about an hour (you can refrigerate it up to overnight, but if it will sit more than an hour, omit the salt and add it instead right before roasting).

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Tuck the garlic slices under the chicken and maybe try to get a few under the skin, so they don’t burn. Roast until it’s brown and tender, about an hour.

To serve, place the chicken on a large serving platter. Garnish with lemon rounds and the basil. Serve hot or warm.