Garlic Scape Pesto
Garlic scapes are one of the many under-used and under-appreciated plant parts. They are packed with flavour, nutrients, and are very versatile. I'm going to show you how to use garlic scapes by making garlic scape pesto!
Ingredients
- 35 Garlic Scapes tops & ends removed
- 1 Cup Olive Oil
- 1 Cup Walnuts
- 1 Cup Parmesan
- 1 Juiced Lemon
- 1 Cup Basil
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
Instructions
- Harvest and rinse your garlic scapes.
- Remove the woody end and seedy pod top. You'll know where to split because they snap easily.
- Add the scapes to the food processor and blend until a coarse paste is formed.
- Add all of the other ingredients.
- Blend until you've reached the consistency of pesto.
- Taste test in between blends to adjust the flavour to your preference.
- Once you have the flavour you like, you can make frozen pesto balls or store in the fridge.
- For frozen pesto balls, grab your cookie tray and line it with parchment paper.
- Use the cookie scoop and scoop balls onto the tray. It should be stiff enough to hold itself up.
- Once you've scooped all of your pesto into balls, place the tray in the freezer.
- Once frozen, remove from the tray and store the pesto balls in a bag in the freezer.
- Pull pesto balls as needed!
Notes
You can use the seed pod tops as they're not seedy yet, just remove the grassy tip. We chose not to use the seedy top in this recipe.
If the pesto is too zingy for you, try adding more parmesan or walnuts. It will be zingy no matter what, it's mostly garlic scape, but a garlic lover will love it.
Because this makes so much garlic scape pesto, we freeze it in small portions. If you go through a lot of pesto, you can skip this step or freeze half and store the other half in an airtight container in the fridge. It should keep for about a week.
If you don't have an insane amount of garlic scapes, feel free to halve the recipe. It tastes just as good!