The flower buds of the garlic plant can be treated much like asparagus: steamed, roasted, fried. I like to split it into quarters, tip to stem end, then finely chop. It can then be added to all sorts of things. The taste of garlic is there, but somehow fresher, greener, more spring-like. The first thing I did was add it to a browned butter sauce for filet of sole with some lemon zest and juice.

But this was the dish that got rave reviews. I had some spaghetti left over from the night before (open a jar of tomato sauce from last year’s crop, boil some pasta and Voila! Dinner!). Some dark sesame oil, a few red chili flakes, soy sauce, rice vinegar, the garlic scapes, fresh peas in their pods (cut on the diagonal) and some red bell pepper. A sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds.

One of the things I love about Wendy’s Garden to Table Challenge is the way it challenges us to be more attentive to the little inventions in the kitchen when using fresh ingredients from the garden (or market). Then, of course, we can visit others who have taken up her challenge and find inventions we never would have thought up on our own.