Wednesday, June 05, 2013

garlic scape pesto recipe

Creamy Garlic Scape Pesto over brown rice pasta
Today's recipe comes inspired by two gorgeous bunches of garlic scapes that arrived in this week's CSA share. For those who are new to garlic scapes, they are simply the undulating tips of the garlic plants. Full of garlic flavor, but a tad milder.



The kitties thought they were a new toy and after sniffing them. immediately started swatting. So I cut off two scape tips for them to play with!

I am carb-loading for an upcoming race and wanted pasta tonite – and I thought the spicy scapes would make a great pesto base. They did, and the copious amounts of nutritional yeast and fruity extra-virgin olive oil [use best-quality here, please!] help balance the scapes' sass. This recipe took me 10 minutes to make, including chopping and washing. I have to be upfront, though – it's Garlicky. As in for Garlic Lovers only, so vampires, beware. If you want a milder flavor, I'd use fewer scapes or else sub scallions or maybe a Vidalia onion instead. Personally, I love garlic so for me, the more, the better.

Besides being a no-brainer pasta topper, this pesto is also a wonderful bruschetta base. Or use it instead of mayo on sandwiches. Before I give you the recipe, I'd like to announce the winner of Vegan Whole Grain Baking contest. Congratulations.....drumroll....SaraEmail me with your address so we can send out your prize.



More scape recipes to try:
Garlic Scapes Roasted with Chickpeas and Sun-dried Tomatoes
Chilled Pea Soup with Mint and Garlic Scapes

Creamy Garlic Scape Pesto


  • About 2 1/2 cups garlic scapes [cut into 1 inch pieces]
  • 1/2 cup almonds and/or walnuts
  • 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • Lots of fresh ground pepper
  • Salt to taste

Makes about 1 3/4 cups

Process in a food processor until very smooth. Freeze what you are not planning on using within a week.


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3 comments:

sara said...

I've never had garlic scapes, but I like the idea of using all of the garlic plant, not just the bulb. I'll have to keep an eye out for them at the farmer's market.

Joey said...

Cool! I remember growing these when I had a very small, very unlovely garden! They were the nicest thing to come out that garden!

Anonymous said...

I caught a neighbor of mine stealing mine -- he thought I didn't know they were yummy.