Sunday, July 01, 2012

Garlic Scape Pesto is every bit as good as they say

My garlic patch suddenly scaped. The garlic seed was given to me last August by garden guru Jim, so I didn't know if they were hard or soft neck. The three different types he gave me were all hard neck so I got lots of scapes. I had already decided to make pesto, so I was ready to go. Here is the recipe. I took liberties with the recipe. I didn't measure anything and just kept adding olive oil until it tasted right. Once it tasted right, I helped myself to several teaspoons. Yummmm.

Garlic Scape Pesto
Ingredients:
1 cup of garlic scapes, top flowery part removed, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/3 cup of pine nuts
3/4 cup of olive oil 
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese 
1/2 teaspoon of salt 
black pepper to taste 
Preparation:
Place scapes and pine nuts in the bowl of a food processor and buzz 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 parmesan 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.

4 comments:

Mark Willis said...

That sounds pretty good! Possibly even better than Basil pesto...?

Erin said...

Mark...personally I like it better than basil. I didn't think that was possible. It is incredibly delicious. But I do love garlic.

Gardeningbren said...

Did you use pine nuts or walnuts? I think the walnuts would take it to another level. You'll have garlic mouth for sure!! hahah

Erin said...

Hi Brenda. The original recipe called for walnuts. I didn't have any so I substituted pine nuts. It was so delicious that I rewrote the recipe. If you make it with walnuts I'd love to know what you think. I loved the way it looked too. It was a lime green colour.