Around this time of year, an oddball vegetable crop shows up at farmers markets around here that to more technically-inclined shoppers may evoke the sight of a cluttered network closet.
But to me the late-spring arrival of garlic scapes, the aboveground parts of hardneck garlic plants, means something else: garlic scape pesto. I picked up a recipe for it from Potomac Vegetable Farms–handwritten, then copied on green paper–at least two decades ago, and it’s had a spot in my binder of recipes ever since.
Garlic scape pesto
- 1 bunch garlic scapes (8 to 10 or so scapes, in my experience cheaper when sold by the pound than by the bunch)
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
- ¼ cup high-quality olive oil
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Rinse and dry the scapes, then trim the thick end of each one so you don’t have any dried-out bits going into the pesto.
Then chop each scape into roughly one-inch segments and puree them in a food processor, scraping the less-blended bits down the sides of the bowl as needed so they get thoroughly processed. Add the nuts and puree them, then add the oil and cheese to the mix and process everything until it’s all blended into a bright-green paste. Boom, you’re done.
The tangy taste is not as garlicky as you might think–because you’re not throwing actual garlic cloves into it. And because the other ingredients moderate the flavor further, it’s more like basil pesto with extra garlic. I use it not only as a pasta sauce but as a sandwich spread and an addition to brighten any other sauce or dressing; for example, it’s great mixed with olive oil and brushed onto chicken before grilling.
But unlike basil pesto, garlic scape pesto keeps for months in the fridge. And if you dip into even a double batch of garlic scape pesto often enough, you may find that you run out an inconvenient number of months before garlic scapes return to your local market.
https://robpegoraro.com/2024/06/06/tasty-homemade-green-slime-garlic-scape-pesto/
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Spice World USA
Raepublic
Rob Pegoraro
vegan24.news
