Garlic scape pesto
Garlic scapes are the flower/seed stalk that shoots up from the garlic bulb. I like the way they curl and from what I understand if they not cut off they will eventually straighten out and bloom. The reason they cut them off they is so the bulb can get more energy to grow bigger and better.
The farmers’ markets and the CSA shares in this area are brimming with garlic scapes. Judging by the comments I heard at the market this morning, not everyone knows what they are or what to do with them. Tonight for dinner I’ll annoint them with some olive oil and grill them just like I do asparagus. They can be chopped thick or thin and added to salads and stir-fries.
My favorite thing to do with them is to make garlic scape pesto. It is super easy to make and refrigerates well for several weeks in a well sealed jar. I also plan on popping some into the freezer to top off my winter soups. I use this pesto on brushetta, pasta, eggs, foccacia, and just about anything I grill like shrimp, salmon, chicken. It’s also fabulous added to mayonnaise and smeared on a big roast beef sandwich. Now I’m hungry!!!
Garlic scape pesto
1 pound garlic scapes
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
Olive oil (about 1/2 to 1 cup)
Pine nuts if available
Chop the garlic scapes into 3 inch lengths. Put it int he food processor and process until pureed. Add the parmesan and pine nuts and process until smooth. Slowly add the olive oil as the food processor runs and continue until all the oil is combined into the garlic. Store in an air-tight jar in the refrigerator.
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39 Responses to “Garlic scape pesto”
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Those are beautiful photos. The pasta looks scrummy!
So can you just leave a head of garlic to sprout like this or am I missing the point completely?
Holler, thanks for the kind words and for stopping by. I’ll see if I can answer your question.
If you leave them to grow on the bulb they’ll sap energy from the bulb. But they’ll straighten up and flower. So if you’re growing for the flower you’d leave them and if you’re growing for the garlic bulb (the cloves) you’d cut them.
Cheers!
Vanessa ~
I just stumbled on your blog via Tastespotting and it’s great! I’m just wondering which farmer’s market you found the garlic scapes at? I frequent the one on the square cos I live 2 blocks away. Maybe I’m blind, but I’ve never seen garlic scapes.
Thanks!
Holler,
if you sprout a garlic bulb you’ll only get garlic sprouts, which kinda taste like chives. They’re still pretty good but not at all like garlic scapes. to get scapes you gotta plant the bulbs during the winter and wait for the scapes to come up in the spring.
Thanks guys, I all becomes clear! I will look out for them!
great recipe, and blog, too! could you use wild garlic leaves in place of scapes? i have quite a lot growing near me and don’t quite know what to do with it apart from wrap meat in it?
hey Tom,
I’ve seen them at the market down by the square, maybe you’ve just missed them, or maybe everyone is getting them before you!
Tom, Yep, I actually went to the market on the square and I saw them at several places…I got there about 8:30 and it was really packed. Try again this week.
Dinger, thanks for the info.
Stockton, what are wild garlic leaves?
Andy, does everyone in Madison get up early? I made it with a double, double machiato, but seriously that is one crowded market.
Vanessa,
they sure do get up early. I went one Saturday and got there around 6:30…prime time if you want to avoid the crowd. Left at 7:15 and it was starting to pick up.
Usually my wife and twin girls go with me, but we get down there around 10:30 and it is a zoo!!
I believe that is the same as what I would call green garlic – which is just immature garlic, pulled while the bulb is still small rather than cut off.
I love it in omelets, pasta, tossed with potatoes. I never thought of a pesto, sounds yummy!
Our season is March and April (I did a Green Garlic post back then ;-) )
Great photos!
[...] from the neighboring yard, we were both pretty wiped out, so I decided to follow the lead of some fellow food bloggers and make a garlic scape pesto. It was delicious and easy, and something I look [...]
How funny. i’d seen garlic scapes on other bloggers sites very occasionally but never got to hold them in my own hands…. until today! I was very excited, as you can imagine and how lucky that you happened to post a recipe for them!
Hi Vanessa! I stumbled upon your blog, and have a question about garlic scapes. I just picked up my weekly supply of veggies from my CSA and garlic scapes were part of my share. Can I eat the entire thing, or should I cut-off the flower (?) bulb?
Thanks!
Ros, I bet they looked lovely wrapped around your wrist like a bracelet. Say Hi to Andrew for me.
Ken, I always cut the flower off…but I bet it’s good grilled. next time I grill them I’ll leave it on.
A family from our church has a garlic farm, and brought bags of scapes to church a couple years ago to give away. I had heard of garlic scape pesto, so took home several bags. Delicious, and super easy with my trusty Cuisinart food processor! Each year I look forward to their “tithe” of scapes! They also freeze very well, and I add them to soups and stews.
[...] several ideas on the web, making scape pesto is what many people do, and I liked how Vanessa at What Geeks Eat prepares [...]
hi vanessa, thanks for this post, I have a huge bag of scapes and was surfing the web trying to figure out what to do with them. I posted some picts of my scapes and my labradors and thoughts here: http://gardenfork.tv/blog/2007/06/24/what-to-do-with-garlic-scapes/
I have a web video show about cooking and gardening your readers may find interesting : http://gardenfork.tv
katiez, these are flower stalks of hardneck garlic, “serpent garlic,” not just sprouts. They’re a June thing. Supermarket garlic is softneck, which keeps better, but these taste better.
There’s a big pic of them still growing in my garden on my blog here.
Wow, what a brilliant idea. Must plant some garlic this winter. Lucky I’m in the southern hemisphere, I won’t have to wait too long.
Woah! I think this is a BRILLIANT recipe solution for those mysterious scapes in my farm share – thank you! I will blog of my success and thank YOU!
Cornelia
HOMEGROWN.org
Hi Vanessa,
I just made your garlic scape pesto for dinner — yummy! Thanks for the recipe — I was staring at the garlic and wondering what to do with it. I substituted raw pistachios for the pine nuts and it turned out great. Thanks and great blog!
ohh very beautiful recipe..thx for post .. i put this article to my bookmarkss .i
Hey. More ? about scapes. So.. if the stems have straightened out from the beautiful curl they were in a couple weeks ago, are they too tough to eat/cook with? They are still green and the flower is still closed. What do you think??
I love this website, I just happened upon it, as I was searching for something to do with my garlic scapes. In the market where I bought my scapes they told me that I should blanch the scapes before making the pesto. Do you think this is necessary?
Last night my neighbor brought me a huge bag of scapes from her garden. I had never even heard of them. Thanks to you tonight I’m having them a la asparagus and tomorrow I’m serving your beauttiful pesto to guests. Thanks!
Thank you! We are growing garlic for the first time this year, and had heard the scapes were delicious – but were not sure how to prepare them. My husband is going to just love the garlic pesto, and the grilled scapes. Thank you for all the great ideas!
[...] track) I can put into a salad. I had never heard of Garlic Scapes before, but apparently they are geeky in some way, so maybe that means I’ll like them. The Bok Choi I can steam. So far, so good. [...]
[...] Holy crap on a crap-boat do I love these things. They’re like garlic-flavored asparagus and just as versatile. In fact, I’ve cooked them with garlic and asparagus together for a trifecta of awesome you [...]
[...] tends to go with everything, so did the scapes. If I had planned better I would have tried the scape pesto, but c’est la [...]
[...] a great recipe for Scapes Pesto, follow this link. [...]
Thanks for posting this recipe! I used this pesto to make a cream sauce tonight over fresh pasta with other veggies from my CSA share and it was all fantastic together!
[...] Garlic Scape Pesto: http://www.whatgeekseat.com/wordpress/2007/06/16/garlic-scape-pesto/ [...]
[...] started with this recipe from What Geeks Eat. I quickly realized i’d have to improvise a little because we don’t [...]
[...] Garlic Scape Pesto Recipe courtesy of What Geeks Eat [...]
[...] did a little Googling and found many ways to use scapes besides grilling, including this recipe for garlic scape pesto that sounds [...]
[...] O.K. Farms has fresh garlic — a huge improvement in flavour over the usual grocery store variety — and garlic scapes, which are the curly tops cut off garlic in order to allow the heads to grow larger. Scapes have a lovely mild garlic-green onion taste, and you can toss them with olive oil and grill them lightly on the BBQ, or make a tasty pesto: http://www.whatgeekseat.com/wordpress/2007/06/16/garlic-scape-pesto/ [...]
[...] saw this recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto, although I haven’t tried it. If you do, let me know how it turns [...]
Garlic scapes are seasonal we get them in june in Wisconsin if you can’t find them call a garlic grower in your area and they will tell you the season and where you can buy some or grow your own.Garlic scapes are an extra when you grow them.If you grow garlic you get scapes in the summer and cloves in the fall from the same plants.truly a win/win situation lol.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful garlic scapes recipe. I will definitely try it. I believe my family will love it.