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Garlic Scape Pesto

source

Roger Doiron

Jul 26, 2009

Crops:

garlic

Recipe Type:

Sauces

Season:

summer

You don't have to wait for your basil or your garlic to make pesto with this recipe. For the uninitiated, garlic scapes are the elegant flowers that emerge from hardneck garlic varieties. Scapes are usually removed as a way of sending more of the plant's vital energy into bulb formation, or so the conventional thinking goes. We also add arugula to this when the planets align. Adding arugula softens the garlic flavor and turns the pesto a darker green which, unlike basil pesto, doesn't oxidize.

Ingredients

1 cup of garlic scapes, top flowery part removed, cut into 1/4 -inch slices
1/3 cup of walnuts
3/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmigiano cheese
1/2 teaspoon of salt
black pepper to taste
2-3 cups of chopped arugula, if using

Preparation

Place scapes and walnuts in the bowl of a food processor and whiz until well combined and somewhat smooth. Slowly drizzle in oil and process until integrated. With a rubber spatula, scoop pesto out of bowl and into a mixing bowl. Add parmigiano to taste; add salt and pepper. Makes about 6 ounces of pesto. Keeps for up to one week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. For 1/2 pound short pasta such as penne, add about 2 tablespoons of pesto to cooked pasta and stir until pasta is well coated.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Roger Doiron

Father, husband, son, brother and uncle. Garden activist, advocate, writer, speaker and photographer. Founder of KGI and certified garden geek. Growing lots of good stuff on the coast of Maine.

Author's link

Twitter @rogerdoiron