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Garlic Scape Pesto

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Garlic Scape Pesto

Turn farmer's market garlic scapes into a fresh & brightly flavored green pesto. An early summer seasonal treat.

 

Yield

16 servings

Prep

10 min

Cook

0 min

Ready

10 min

Ingredients

Amount Measure Ingredient Features
6 ounces garlic scapes
about 12 scapes, or 1 cup trimmed and sliced
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¼ cup pine nuts
toasted, see tip below
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¼ cup Parmesan cheese
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½ teaspoon salt
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teaspoon black pepper
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½ cup olive oil
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¼ cup basil
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2 tablespoons lemon juice
juice of one lemon
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Ingredients

Amount Measure Ingredient Features
173.4 ml/g garlic scapes
about 12 scapes, or 1 cup trimmed and sliced
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59 ml pine nuts
toasted, see tip below
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59 ml Parmesan cheese
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2.5 ml salt
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0.6 ml black pepper
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118 ml olive oil
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59 ml basil
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3E+1 ml lemon juice
juice of one lemon
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Directions

  1. Add the garlic scapes into a food processor and process until finely chopped; about 30 seconds. Add the toasted pine nuts (see money saving tip below) and pulse/process about 12 times for 5 seconds each. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides as needed.

    Garlic scape pesto ingredients, garlic scapes, basil, toasted pinenuts, olive oil and parmesan cheese arranged on a wood cutting board.

  2. With the food processor running, drizzle in the extra-virgin olive oil and continue processing until you reach the desired texture; about one or two minutes.

    Garlic scape pesto mid-preparation; in the <a href="/how-to/ballistic-about-bowls-338" title="Ballistic about bowls - Essential kitchen bowls with reviews">bowl</a> of a food processor showing pinenuts, parmesan cheese, basil leaf with a spatula for scraping sides and whole garlic scapes in the background on a wood cutting board.

  3. Add the lemon juice, parmesan cheese, and basil leaves; process to thoroughly incorporate. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding extra lemon juice, salt, and fresh ground black pepper as needed.

How to prepare garlic scapes

Trim off the fibrous top, just above the bulbous part and trim off about ⅓ inch or ½ cm of the bottom; see photo. Slice the trimmed garlic scapes into 1 inch (2 cm) pieces.

Prepared garlic scapes; trimemed and chopped on a wood cutting board with a chef's knife and pine nuts. z To prepare garlic scapes; trim off the tough top above the bulbous tip and trip the bottom.

Test the assertiveness of your garlic scapes

We recommend tasting one of your garlic scapes to judge how strong it is before making the pesto. Usually, garlic scapes are reasonably mild, but your batch might pack a wallop.

To temper their assertiveness; place the trimmed scapes into a colander and pour boiling water slowly over them. This will help to mellow the flavor of the final product.

Save money by using sunflower seeds

Pine nuts are quite expensive. You can achieve a similar result by using sunflower seeds to replace the pine nuts in the recipe. Your guests won't notice much of a difference in taste and your pocketbook will thank you!

Basil substitutions

Don't have basil? Use roquette (arugula) instead. The arugula matches the assertiveness of the garlic scapes quite well.



* not incl. in nutrient facts Arrow up button

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