GARLIC SCAPE PESTO
So you may be thinking, what the heck is a garlic scape? and rightfully so! If you have never seen garlic in it's natural habitat than you may have never seen a garlic scape. My family has grown our own garlic for as long as I can remember. It is not too labor intensive and is amazing to have on hand if you cook with as much garlic as we do! Ok but really what is a garlic scape?
This curly thing right here, that is a garlic scape! It pops out of the top of your garlic plant and will eventually sprout a flower. In early summer you will find these in your garlic plants and want to chop them off as they will steal most of the sun and nutrients from your garlic plant leaving you with small heads of garlic. Since most people are unsure of what to do with these curly green things they usually just throw them away but they are actually full of delicious garlic-y flavor! While you can just throw them in a pan and saute them I love to make a big batch of pesto with them every summer.
This recipe is incredibly simple and only requires a few ingredients! I am actually making another batch to throw in the freezer since we have so many garlic scapes! I use pesto classics like good quality olive oil and pine nuts but am substituting nutritional yeast for parmesan for a dairy free option. I also cut down the amount of oil in traditional pesto recipes and add water as well for a smooth uniform mixture without double the amount of fat. Let me know if you try this delicious recipe!
Or if you need something to put this delicious pesto on try my new White Summer Lasagna!
GARLIC SCAPE PESTO RECIPE
Time: 10 minutes
Yield: ~2 cups
Ingredients:
4 cups loosely packed basil
1 cup garlic scapes, roughly chopped
3/4 cup nutritional yeast *sub parmesan here if desired*
3/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup water
1 tsp salt
Directions:
In a food processor add the basil, garlic scapes, and salt. Pulse till you have a roughly chopped mixture.
Next while the food processor is running, slowly stream in the oil, then the water.
Next add your pine nuts and nutritional yeast. Pulse till desired texture is achieved (about 20 seconds). I like to keep a little bit of texture
#pesto #garlicscapes #garlicscapepesto #summereats #summerrecipes #fromthegarden #plantbased #coolbeansnutrition
