Once a year we harvest something very special from our garden and that happened today. Have you ever had a garlic scape? They are the flower stem from a garlic plant and we prune them to help generate a bigger tastier garlic bulb. The other result is an absolute yummy treat. Our favorite way to use garlic scapes is in Garlic Scape Basil Pesto. You can add it to pasta, use it as a marinade for grilled chicken or add it to sour cream for a "fancy" quick dip for that summer picnic.
Sweet Betsy Farm Garlic Scape Basil Pesto
1/2 cup Garlic Scapes, (about 8-10 scapes)
1/2 cup packed Basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts
Juice of 1 medium lemon
Slice scapes into ½ long pieces, combine with basil and salt in food processor. Pulse until chopped finely. Drizzle half of olive oil over garlic/basil mixture, continuing to pulse mixture until almost pureed. If mixture is dry, add additional olive oil until desired consistency (should be loose mixture without visible olive oil). Add cheese, mix well, then add pine nuts. You want the pine nuts to be roughly chopped only. Final step, add half the lemon juice, taste and add more if desired.
Will make about 1 ½ cups of pesto which stores in fridge for a week or so. This freezes well so consider freezing serving sized portions to pull out on some cold dreary winter day!