What? What’s a garlic scape? Well, when a hardneck garlic variety reaches it final growth phase it sends up a curly shoot called a scape. This is basically the garlic flower head and they need to be removed to force the plant to put more energy into making a bigger bulb. Scapes are edible and I like to use them for Garlic Scape Pesto. They have a wonderful flavor that is a cross between garlic and scallion that is just delicious! After garlic is dug up it needs to cure for several weeks and the scapes are an early treat until we can cook with the bulbs.
1 cup garlic scapes (about 8 or 9 scapes), cut into ¼-inch slices
1/3 cup walnuts
¾ cup olive oil
¼-1/2 cup grated parmigiano or grana padana
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
Method:
Place scapes and walnuts in the bowl of a food processor and whiz until well combined and somewhat smooth. Slowly drizzle in oil and process until integrated. With a rubber spatula, scoop pesto out of bowl and into a mixing bowl. Add cheese to taste; add salt and pepper. Makes about 6 ounces of pesto. Keeps for up to one week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
For ½ pound short pasta such as penne, add about 2 tablespoons of pesto to cooked pasta and stir until pasta is well coated.
Tthe batch you made last year was delicious. Unless you grow a lot of garlic this is a once a year treat!
[...] in the know will see that this garlic is a hard neck variety. My wife loves to make pesto from the garlic scapes which only the hard neck varieties grow. I think this fall we will plant some soft neck garlic. [...]