Garlic scape pesto
Started an edible garden for the first time ever, and this is the first season in which I've been able to harvest anything. It's so cool! First harvest was a handful of strawberries. Second harvest: garlic scapes! (Confession: I'm such a newb I wasn't even positive they were scapes; I had to ask gardening, and several people confirmed what they were indeed scapes and offered suggestions on how to eat them).
The most popular suggestions for how to eat these beauties included stir frying or roasting (the scape stems are solid like asparagus, but from the bulbil up they're hollow like scallions). Because I'm greedy and wanted to make them stretch as much as possible, I decided to go with the suggestion to make pesto out of them, good for several meals. It tastes quite different from basil-based pesto, more garlicky (but not overpoweringly so) and brighter. And soooooooooooo delicious! Best thing though is that garlic scape pesto freezes well, so I'm saving most of it for later in the summer, hopefully when my tomatoes are ready to eat.
It's the same method as making basil pesto: take the scapes, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and a bit of salt and process everything together in a food processor. If you can get your hands on some garlic scapes, I highly recommend making pesto out of them. I've posted more pictures and the recipe I used at my food blog.
The most popular suggestions for how to eat these beauties included stir frying or roasting (the scape stems are solid like asparagus, but from the bulbil up they're hollow like scallions). Because I'm greedy and wanted to make them stretch as much as possible, I decided to go with the suggestion to make pesto out of them, good for several meals. It tastes quite different from basil-based pesto, more garlicky (but not overpoweringly so) and brighter. And soooooooooooo delicious! Best thing though is that garlic scape pesto freezes well, so I'm saving most of it for later in the summer, hopefully when my tomatoes are ready to eat.
It's the same method as making basil pesto: take the scapes, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, olive oil, and a bit of salt and process everything together in a food processor. If you can get your hands on some garlic scapes, I highly recommend making pesto out of them. I've posted more pictures and the recipe I used at my food blog.