"Good manners: The noise you don't make when you're eating soup." ~ Bennett Cerf

This is the time of year for scapes - those curly tops of planted garlic.  We have friends who plant garlic every fall, and harvest the scapes, with their strong garlic flavor, in early summer.  Bruce has traditionally helped with the planting and the harvesting and recently brought home bags filled with scapes.

Last year I did a post on scapes and tried an improvised recipe that I generally felt was a failure, though others seemed to like it ok.  This year I didn't improvise - I went straight for a recipe that had scapes in the ingredient list.  Spinach, Pea and Garlic Scape Soup has a treasure trove of fresh ingredients.  Not to matter that it is near 90 degrees out.  I turned on the air-conditioning and christened my newest All Clad acquisition - a 3 quart sauce pan - yes, I have been saving up my gift cards again!

A little bit of slicing and dicing, but a very easy recipe - and I think that it will freeze well - I don't intend to make a dinner of soup on a 90 degree day!  I did one change - I used the fat-free half and half that I had on hand instead of the cream called for in the recipe.  Next time I would omit the butter - I don't think that it's necessary - the olive oil suits just fine for sautéing.  Also, if you'd like a bit of a stronger flavor (the end result tastes quite a bit like peas) I'd consider increasing the amount of scapes. Enjoy!