Garlic scapes

These beautiful curly greens are garlic scapes. I’d never actually had any before as you don’t usually find them in stores. Our friends who have a CSA gave them to us along with a bunch of other yummy greens. At this point we’ve eaten all the other things in salads and pasta dishes, but I’m still deciding what to do with these. I did chop one up to include in the pasta dish with spinach, but they’re just too elegant sitting there in the vase to use them up.

Pasta with Spinach & Bacon

4-5 slices bacon, roughly diced (I’d use pancetta if I had it)
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream (maybe more I didn’t measure)
big bag o’ spinach (I have no idea how much it actually was!)
garlic scape, sliced
handful of pine nuts
1 lb pasta (farfalle, rotini, etc)

Rinse and clean the spinach. Tear it into pieces and get as much water as you can out of it. Put a large pot of water on to boil and cook the pasta al dente. Saute the bacon in a large pan until crispy and golden. Add the garlic and saute another minute or two until it starts to brown. Pour in the cream and bring to a boil. Boil for a couple of minutes to thicken a little bit. Add the pile of spinach and cook, stirring until it wilts. Pour the sauce over the drained pasta and toss to coat. Garnish with pine nuts and chopped scapes, passing freshly grated parmesan.