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Garlic Scape Pesto
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Garlic scapes are the early gift of a garlic bed, the flower head from hard neck garlic that must be removed for the garlic to bulb as large as possible. They emerge after a few months of growth in spring and about a month before the garlic will be mature. It’s imperative to harvest them so that the plant can continue to focus on bulb formation, developing the largest, most productive heads of garlic as possible. If you’re curious to learn how to grow garlic, read my garlic grow guide.
We’ve tried grilling them, dehydrating, them, and even making garlic scape pesto. It was very pungent — the mouthfeel that makes food taste spicy which is actually a sensation and not true heat like from capsicum (peppers).
Blanching the garlic scapes knocks back the pungency to the just-right amount for me. I think you’ll agree.
The beauty of this recipe is that we have enough basil for this recipe but not enough for a basil pesto, and meanwhile have garlic scapes sitting in the fridge singing tick-tock to me every time I open it. This allows us to utilize abundance of one and modest offerings of the other and is a fabulous alternative to our traditional basil pesto.
Portion-ready pesto cubes in the making.
We freeze all of it in small batches — ice cube trays, mini muffin tins, and 4-ounce, 8-ounce, and 12-ounce jars. It will last us all year, being used in pastas, pizzas, gnocchi and rice dishes.
Yield: 1 quart
Garlic Scape Pesto
Garlic scape pesto uses the flowering head from hard neck garlic and a modest handful (a cup) of basil leaves, a perfect seasonal harvest and processing recipe for any home gardener. Freezes like a dream.
Ingredients
- 4 cups garlic scapes, blanched and diced (about 25 scapes)
- 1 cup packed basil leaves
- 1 cup organic pine nuts
- 1 3/4 cup olive oil
- 2/3 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed (about 3 lemons)
- 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
Instructions
- Blanch the garlic scapes. This cuts the pungency down just a little while retaining the beautiful garlic flavor. Dip in boiling water for a few minutes, remove and dunk in an ice water bath. When cooled, chop down to make the food processing faster.
- Place blanched scapes in your food processor and pulse until very well pulverized, about 30 seconds of pulsing.
- Add the pine nuts and pulse again until the mixture is fully mashed up. Scrape it down part way through to be sure you catch any rogue pieces that didn’t get mixed in.
- Add the olive oil and blend until almost smooth. Texture is ultimately your call, so you decide.
- Add the parmesan cheese and pulse to combine.
- Finally, add the basil, lemon juice and salt and process until you reach your desired texture.
Notes
The New York Times blog turned me onto the order of operations, which I don’t usually consider while making basil pesto (though maybe I should). It makes a very smooth texture.
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