If you planted garlic as a crop, the scapes are ready to pick all at the same time (click here for our post on harvesting garlic), and you might find yourself scrambling to find uses for all of them. That wonderful garlic flavor is too good to consign to the compost heap. So, what to do with a basketful of curly scapes?
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| A garlic scape ready to pick |
Milder than garlic cloves, in the past we have chopped and added handfuls of the scapes to soups, stews, sauces, stir frys; those dishes in which garlic is a common flavoring. This year we thought of making pesto. Envisioning a plate of linguini topped with a pesto that said "garlic" instead of "basil," we tried it and were pleasantly surprised.
Garlic Scape Pesto, in addition to a sumptuous garden-fresh, mild-garlicky flavor, is colorful. The color is a shade of light green that is almost neon, and it stays that way even to the next day if you have referigerated some.
Serve on top of whole wheat linguini, or the pasta of your choice. A serving size is about one to two tablespoons.
1 cup of garlic scapes cut into 1 inch sections
1/4 cup pine nuts (or walnuts or almonds)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan-reggiano cheese, grated
Salt & pepper to taste
Place the scapes and the pine nuts into a food processor. Pulse a few times until the scapes are chopped. Slowly add the oil and pulse until well blended., scraping the sides down a couple of times. Add the parmesan-reggiano cheese, salt, and pepper and pulse a few more times. -G.H.
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