Garlic Scape Pesto

Garlic scapes are the long green shoots that grow out of the garlic bulb, enjoyed in late spring & early summer. There are many different ways to prepare them, including blending them into pesto for a delicious garlicky kick.

Ingredients

  • 1-2 cups chopped garlic scapes (depending on how strong of a garlic flavor you prefer)

  • 1⁄3 cup nuts of choice (I’ve used walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, pistachios… So it’s really up to you!)

  • 1 cup fresh basil leaves

  • ½ cup olive oil

  • Juice of one lemon

  • ½ finely shredded parmesan cheese

  • Pinch of salt & pepper

Directions

  1. Place the garlic scapes, nuts, and basil in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. If your mixture is very thick, you may need to stop pulsing and scrape the sides with a spatula a few times.

  2. Add lemon juice, olive oil and parmesan cheese and blend. Again, you may need to stop the food processor and scrape the sides in order to get everything fully blended. If mixture is too thick for your liking, add more olive oil until it reaches desired consistency.

  3. Taste, then add a pinch each of salt and pepper. Blend again, then taste. Feel free to add more lemon, salt or pepper until it reaches desired flavor.

  4. Store pesto in refrigerator, it also freezes well if you prefer to eat it later. We highly recommend enjoying your pesto with pasta, on a sandwich or with eggs — but you really can’t go wrong!

Sarah Akbari