Get More Out Of Garlic Scapes With This Steak-Worthy Compound Butter

Garlic scapes pop up in late spring and early summer, the flower stems of garlic plants. Trimmed before they bloom, they have a fresh garlicky flavor with a texture and sweetness similar to other spring vegetables like green beans or asparagus. They have a short season, so you should act fast if you see garlic scapes at the grocery store or farmers' market. There's no need to freak out if it looks like you've bought (or grown) too many, as garlic scapes can be stored in the fridge for up to three weeks, and also work well pickled, kind of like garlicky dilly beans. 

One of our favorite ways to use garlic scapes, though? A homemade compound butter that's rich, garlicky, and somehow still fresh. It's the taste of early summer days caught in suspended animation and ready to serve on toast (or on fish, roast vegetables, potatoes... the options are almost endless). Compound butter might sound complicated, but any butter mixed with other ingredients is compound butter. We get the name from the French term beurre composé, probably because it sounds better than "butter mixed with things". Don't let its name fool you, though, it only has three steps and four ingredients –- butter, garlic scapes, salt, and lemon juice.

It is best to make compound butter with unsalted butter. Adding salt is simple and easy, but reducing it is almost impossible once it is incorporated. For garlic scape compound butter, start with equal amounts of quality unsalted butter and trimmed, chopped garlic scapes. Soften the butter by whipping it, either using a stand mixer or good old elbow grease. Then all you have to do is thoroughly mix in the remaining ingredients, and roll the compound butter into a log in parchment paper. You want to firm it up in the fridge which should take one or two hours. This will allow you to cut it into discs.

Although traditional recipes call for lemon juice, you could use a different citrus such as lime or even yuzu. Soft herbs like parsley, chives, and cilantro also work well in compound butters, so feel free to experiment with flavors. If you add herbs, chop them well and combine them with your scapes. The ratio of butter to other ingredients should always remain roughly 1-to-1.

To store your compound butter, slice the firm log into smaller portions, rewrap them, place the wrapped portions in a closed zip-top bag, and refrigerate or freeze. Exact sizes do not matter — it is more about how much you are likely to use quickly, and how much you would like to store longer term. Your butter should last around five days in the fridge, or up to three months in the freezer.

Garlic scape compound butter can be used anywhere garlic butter, herb butter, or even garlic olive oil would usually appear. Replacing the butter in a rich dish like steak de Burgo with garlic scape compound butter, where the butter is heated, will bring out the sweetness and garlic flavors in the scapes. Simply melting your compound butter over pasta and adding a lightly blanched spring vegetable such as peas or green beans will highlight other flavors, maintaining the vegetal edge of the raw scapes and their fiery young-garlic kick.

Scape butter is also great on grilled fish, where it goes well with parsley, and, like many herb butters, it can be used as a luxurious dip for spicy radishes (seriously, try it). To put it simply, when it comes to garlic scape compound butter the world is your oyster. It would probably be good with oysters, in fact! Grilled oysters are often finished with butter, it's a Florida panhandle classic, and those garlic scapes would add a lot of class.