Cassie’s Ruminations

Grilled Garlic Spears

While perusing the produce at Central Market, I saw these intriguing items labeled “garlic spears.” The description on them reads:

Garlic Spears
Flower Tops from Elephant Garlic

When cooked, garlic spears have a very mild garlic flavor with a texture and taste somewhere between asparagus and artichoke. The whole spear may be eaten – as is.

Steam or saute lightly (3-5 minutes, depending on how crisp you like your vegetables) and serve with a little butter and lemon juice.

They are also delicious served chilled (after steaming) as an appetizer and a companion to your favorite dip.

Pureed, they make a wonderfully mild garlic soup. Chopped raw they are very hot and will spice up your baked potatoes, salads, or dips.

For a very special touch, steam lightly, cut into inch long pieces and add them to your pasta dishes.

Try them – you’ll like them!

I chose to put them on the grill over low heat for about 6 minutes, much as I’ve done with asparagus. They turned out crisp-tender. The flavor was indeed somewhat like asparagus with mild garlic. The crisp-ness lent a bit of similarity to a green bell pepper as well. All in all, I liked these quite a bit. Shaun thought they were okay too, but would have liked them a bit better cooked for a touch longer.