Garlic Scape Pesto

Garlic Scape Pesto

I recently bought a bag of garlic scapes from a farmer for $1.50 out of culinary curiosity. It wasn’t until I got home and surveyed my own garden patch that I realized I had armfuls of the stuff myself, free for the picking.  Garlic scapes are the tops of garlic plants, and they are cut to help the garlic heads grow bigger.

I chopped some up and put them in a salad, but they’re a bit tough and a pain to chop. You can also steam the stems like asparagus and serve them with butter. I decided to make a pesto, and here I hit garlic paydirt. The pesto stays bright green for days and shocks you with a garlic hit, but not as pungently as fresh garlic cloves.  I eat spoonfuls of it, and spread it like butter on bread, and I’ve discovered there is a limit to how much of it you can comfortably eat in one day.

 

 

Garlic Scape Pesto in Jars

Garlic scape pesto would be great broiled with fish, roasted on chicken, grilled with pork and rack of lamb, or tossed with roasted potatoes.  Try it with pasta alone, or mix into tomato sauce, or on top of sliced tomatoes.  As an appetizer spread it on a sheet of puff pastry with chopped sun dried tomatoes, roll it up, slice and bake for zesty palmiers.   

Picked Garlic Scapes

Ingredients

• Two large fistfuls of garlic scapes
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 lemon – peel and juice
• pinch of kosher salt and dash of pepper

Steps

1. Blend all the ingredients together
2. Keep in a glass jar in the fridge for up to a week
3. Or freeze in plastic bags

 

Garlic Scapes galore in my messy garden

 

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