Recipe of the week: A festival of potent summer garlic

I love garlic so much that plain old cloves no longer satisfy me, said Melissa Clark in The New York Times. Whenever I’m at a farmers’ market, I keep an eye out for green garlic and—my newest enthusiasm—thin, shoot-like garlic scapes. Recently I decided to create a feast of garlic dishes so friends could compare their varied flavors side by side.

Tender crops of green garlic—“bulbs still attached to their green floppy tops”—usually start showing up in markets in the spring. Garlic scapes, by contrast, are a summer delicacy. Extremely thin and “exuberantly loopy,” scapes almost look as if they’re meant not to be eaten but instead put into a vase with flowers. In fact, none of my cookbooks even had an entry for scapes. But after some experimentation and consulting with a professional chef, I was able to devise a potent dip.

Recipes of the week

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Chai-Spiced Chicken Wings With Green Garlic Aioli

For the chicken:

½ fat bulb green garlic, root and green parts trimmed, outer layer removed, or 4 regular garlic cloves, peeled

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cardamom pods (about 16)

1 tsp finely grated orange zest

1 star anise

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 pinch ground cloves

2½ lbs chicken wings

For the aioli:

½ fat bulb green garlic, green parts trimmed, outer layer removed

½ tsp coarse sea salt

1 egg yolk

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste

Coarsely chop ½ bulb green garlic; place in blender with olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, ginger, cardamom, orange zest, star anise, cinnamon, pepper, cloves. Blend mixture to rough purée. In bowl, toss marinade with chicken wings; cover. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or, preferably, overnight. Preheat broiler to high. Use paper towel to brush off most solids from marinade clinging to chicken. Arrange wings on baking sheet. Broil until wings are golden brown and cooked through, about 5 minutes each side.

To prepare aioli, finely chop remaining garlic. Using mortar and pestle, pound with salt until paste forms. Add egg yolk, continue to pound paste until incorporated, then add oil drop by drop until thick, shiny aioli is achieved. Stir in a few drops of lemon juice. Serve wings with aioli for dipping. Serves 2 to 4.

White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip

1/3 cup sliced garlic scapes (3 to 4)

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice, more to taste

½ tsp coarse sea salt, more to taste

Ground black pepper to taste

1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, more for drizzling

Water

In food processor, process garlic scapes with lemon juice, salt, pepper until finely chopped. Add cannellini beans and process to rough purée. With motor running, slowly drizzle olive oil through feed tube; process until fairly smooth. Pulse in 2 or 3 tbsp water, or more, until mixture is consistency of a dip. Add more salt, pepper, and/or lemon juice, if desired. Spread out dip on plate, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with more salt. Yield: 1½ cups.