The scapes are thin stalks that grow off the top of the garlic and get all curly and eventually will produce a flower. But you want the energy of the plant to go into the bulbs sooo... you cut off the scapes and make pesto! This is all courtesy of Mama's pal Richard (he of the fruit tree pruning fame)... and Mama's tasted his pesto so she's game for this!
First you need to chop up the scapes into pieces - about 2 inches long - just so they fit in the food processor and don't try to squirm out.
This could be beary time-consuming for a little bear - so sometimes it's better to have your human do it...
Then, you put them in your food processor...
And turn it on and watch the scapes get neatly choppped up.
Next you need some parmesan and olive oil...
Hmmm... that looks pretty good...
And a quick sniff....
Oh yeah!!! That smells like garlic - whew!!
Now... a recipe... hmmm... it seems like a bit of a ballpark... do we have 1/4 lb or 1/2 lb of scapes?? Eh... we'll wing it with the olive oil and parmesan (that's what great chefs do - right Ben?).
Ta-dah!!! That is one jar of garlic scape pesto (we have two others in the freezer). I can't wait to taste some! Mama did some nibbles and says "Yup, that's garlic!"
Is anyone else out there growing garlic?? Or made a garlic scape pesto?
My roommates took some of the basil from our Trader Joe's baisil plants (they love those plants sooooooo much, sometimes I think they will quit my blog to blog about those plants instead) and made pesto yesterday. They used a food processor as well and had good results. Recipe: Basil leaves, parlsley, toasted garlic, cheese and olive oil.
ReplyDeleteLast year we grew garlic but not this year (I will have to interogate my roommates as to why) and we used the tops in eggs. Now that I know you can use the garlic scrapes in pesto I will have to make an executive decision and plant garlic this fall.
Oh, basil is sooooo good!! We have two basil plants but are trying to grow basil from seeds as well. We don't have a Trader Joe's... only Pirate Joe's in Vancouver. We've also made a kale/walnut pesto which is beary good as well.
DeleteGarlic seems quite easy to grow - you should definitely put your foot down with your roommates!
Do you store your pesto in the freezer in glass jars? Is it possible to do that without crackng the glass? Little fox is intrigued....
ReplyDeleteWell... as long as (a) I don't overfill them - there is that 10% expansion thing that happens when stuff freezes and (b) I keep them from knocking into other things - these ones are in the door racks... so far so good...
DeleteMmm.. yummy! That looks beary delicious. I love a good pesto and so does my mom, but she says it is too much work to make it herself. I think she is just lazy! Perhaps I will do it. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself...
ReplyDeleteThanks Ajdin! We haven't tried it yet but I'm sure it will be scrumptious if a bit garlicky... it wasn't all THAT much work... but you are correct. if you want something done right (like a blog) you have to do it yourself (secrebearies are notoriously unreliable!)
DeleteWe don't have any garlic plants in our garden, but LOTS of chives. Ben uses them in many dishes: eggs, soups, stews, on salads and cottage cheese, etc. They are delicious. We'll have to try garlic next year.
ReplyDeleteOur chives aren't doing beary well... not sure why... But the garlic is doing beary well! I think it's almost time to harvest them... and then we need to cure them. They were beary easy to grow and it will be interesting to see what sort of harvest we get.
Delete