While I was searching for ways to use the garlic scapes that I picked up on the weekend the one recipe that kept coming up was a garlic scape pesto. Given that I am a fan of garlic, a garlicky pesto sounded really good! I was a bit concerned though as I did read a few complaints from people that had tried the garlic scape pesto and found it to be too strong. As a test I tried eating some of the raw garlic scapes and although they were fairly strong they were good and I decided to forge ahead. When I took a bite out of the garlic scapes I noticed that they were a bit stringy so I decided to cut the scapes into little pieces before pureeing in the food processor in an attempt to keep the pesto nice and smooth. Other than that bit of chopping the pesto was really easy to make and the pine nuts, parmigiano reggiano, and olive oil mellowed out the raw garlicky flavour nicely. When I make pesto pastas I normally pour a some of the boiling water into a bowl, drain the pasta and put it right the now empty pot and add the pesto and some of the reserved pasta water. The combination of the hot pot and hot pasta water also worked to further mellow out the garlic flavour. In the end the garlic scape pesto was amazing! Given my slight reservations before making it I was a bit surprised and now the garlic scape pesto is my favorite pesto!
With all the thoughts about garlic floating through my head one thing that came to mind was a garlic scape garlic bread. Since I had used the last of my garlic scapes to make the garlic scape pesto I decided to make a garlic scape pesto garlic bread and I topped it with some more parmigiano reggiano and toasted it until the cheese was melted and golden brown. The cheesy garlic scape pesto garlic toast was so good and it went well with the pasta! What a great garlicky meal!
Garlic Scape Pesto
ingredients
- 1 cup garlic scapes (sliced 1/4 inch thick)
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts (toasted)
- 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- lemon juice to taste (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
directions
- Place everything into a food processor and blend.
Garlic Scape Scampi
Wild Leek Pesto
Basil Pesto on Penne
Fava Bean Pesto on Fettucini
Cheesy Garlic Bread
Cheesy Ramp “Garlic” Bread
Did somebody say Garlic?! Kevin, I LOVE this meal. Anything and everything garlic (scapes, cloves, WHATEVER) is my kind of eating. Very nice, very nice. Wish I was over to enjoy this. 🙂 Hope all is well with you, my friend!
I'm with Sam, above – say "garlic" and I'm allll for the recipe!! 😀
I too love Garlic!!
Have never used scapes, think I may need to go to a local asian store to find them as they are not amongst our usual vegetables at the supermarkets here.
This dish looks magnificent considering the simplicity of the ingredients.
Great work AGAIN Kevin.
Ah ah ah you're going to turn French with all that garlic,lol!
Yum. I wish I could run into some more scapes – I've only found them once all season. And I so want to make pesto with them. Yours looks fantastic.
I am just imagining how good this tastes and want to try the pesto and garlic bread now with the rest of my scapes.
Good job on this pesto! I think cutting the scape what a great idea! No such thing as too much garlic!!!!!
Wow…if "garlic" is listed 3 times on the post's title, I'm a fan! Just bring on the Altoid mints later!
Much like others on here I knew when I read garlic 3 times that this was going to be something that I needed to look at it. This sounds absolutely wonderful.
i saw these in the market the other day and wanted to buy them, but wasn't sure what to do with them – now i know!
thanks for this! can't wait to try this pesto.
Ooh lala! This sounds amazing! I never thought to use garlic scape to make pesto…but then, pestos are so versatile! I made one with blueberries xp
I LOVE this dish, as I love ALL your dishes!
What a unique pesto, it sounds so flavorful – yum!
Scapes make another delicious appearance. Looks really good. Though I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't like it. It's garlic, pasta and bread. Three thing I must have.
A wonderful garlicky meal!
anything garlicky is good for me! Love the look of the bread and the pasta 😀
ooh that garlic bread!! yum 🙂
I love anything garlicky! Both the bread and pasta are droolworthy!
Cheers,
Rosa
Ahhh 1 a.m. and I'm seriously starving now. I could live off garlic! Well,some pasta or bread thrown in doesn't hurt, but yummm!
Sues
we've never used garlic scapes before but sounds great! will have to look for it!
I absolutely LOVE garlic! Excited to try this 😀
Beautiful as always Kevin, your pictures are so amazing, you need to start passing out tips! I love the idea of using the pesto on garlic bread. Thanks for joining in Presto Pasta and don't forget to check out the roundup tomorrow.
YUM! That load of garlic sounds wonderful! Beautifully presented Kelvin!
Yummy with Garlics..
The pasta and bread look wonderful. Love Pasta dishes.
What a great way to use garlic scapes 🙂
Never heard of a garlic scape. This looks awesome Kevin.
Love this! I recently roasted scapes in an entry for a foodiefights contest and I'm sure it was their use that got me the win. Pesto is a great use for these.
Great pesto recipes seem to abound in the blogosphere at the moment! Both your pesto and the garlic scape bread sound really yummy!
Greetings,
Tiina
My husband is a vegetarian and loves garlic, so I have to give this a try. I've never used garlic scapes before. I didn't even know they existed. Thanks for expanding my culinary awareness!
Yummy- I have some garlic scapes from yesterday's cropshare and I was searching for recipes!
This looks great! Pam at Sidewalk Shoes has possted a great scape pesto today, and now I'm ready more than ever to give them a go!
I made pesto with my scapes as well! I love that you put it on the garlic bread too…double the scapes is double the fun.
I'll have to save some of my pesto and use it on some garlic bread. Great idea!
Thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights. Now all I have to do is FIND some garlic scapes! I'm saving the recipe for when I do.
We have green garlic and fresh garlic but no garlic scapes…. Looks like I'm going to have to go to North America next summer to try them!
That pesto sounds great! Delicious looking meal!
Looks like you're enjoying your garlic scapes with all these recipes…a quick & easy meal solution.
I love this recipe. Basicly because it has garlic in it and I love everything that has garlic. And garlic bread is one of the best things in the world.