A Simple Stir-fry, and Some Garden Woes

I was going to share a recipe, and some concerns about our garlic since I removed the scapes.  When I went out to the garden this morning to take a picture of the garlic, I noticed evidence of a rather large predator.

At first I was relieved that this predator (a deer?) didn't eat anything, but I just ran out to check on the pee gee hydrangea remembering that deer ate those last year, and in fact some of the buds have been chomped off.  Grrrrr.  I sprayed a few weeks ago to prevent this from happening, but it's been raining so it washes away, and I guess the deer are hungry. 










So, here's the garlic.

I thought the yellowing leaves were a sign that they were almost ready to harvest, but some of the scapes never formed, and a few in the back are curling toward the ground.

I am debating pulling one that's curling to see what's there, but I'm not sure.















And, on to happier subjects.  I did a little more experimenting with garlic scapes since we had them.  I threw them into this stir-fry one night, but I felt like the scapes got a little lost.  It's still a good, quick recipe.

Shrimp and Corn Stir-Fry
loosely based on this Epicurious recipe

2 tablespoons butter

Kernels from 2 ears corn

1/2 pound shelled large shrimp (I cheat and use the frozen, cooked ones and throw them in at the end)

1 scallion, chopped

3 garlic scapes, chopped (if you've got 'em)

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1/2 cup snow peas, trimmed and chopped

1/4 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced

crushed red pepper

kosher salt

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over moderately high heat, then sauté corn, snow peas, red pepper, garlic scapes and shrimp (if it's not cooked already), stirring, until shrimp are cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. Add a pinch or two of crushed red pepper and some kosher salt.  Stir in scallions.  Remove from heat, add basil and serve.

I preferred the scapes and pasta, where I could really taste them.   We've got one healthy scape left.  I wanted to try grilling them, which I may still do, but we'll have to share the one scape.