Garlic Scape Pesto

If you go to your local farmer's market, you may have seen boxes of what looked like curly green stems all over the stands. What is a garlic scape, you may ask? It's the green shoot of a garlic plant that emerges from the soil as garlic matures. These shoots are delicate, allowing them to grow up from the soil and curl like tendrils as they toughen. Farmers (or garlic home-growers) clip them back, because it allows the garlic bulbs to grow bigger and better. So what's good for garlic...is also good for us garlic lovers!


There seem to have been more than usual this year, but maybe I'm just noticing them more because I have literally fallen in love with these guys this summer. They have the flavor of garlic, but on the softer side without the harsh bite of traditional garlic, and they're crunchy, so you can use them as a garnish. You can cook them, eat them raw...man, the possibilities are endless. 


And rather than buying basil and parsley, toasting walnuts and adding lots of cheeses..the garlic scape is enough to flavor this entire dish of pesto. So it's easier, too!


Ingredients
10 garlic scapes
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan or Romano cheese
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt and pepper


Directions
1. Dice garlic scapes into small pieces that will fit in your food processor.

2. Toast slivered almonds in a dry saucepan until golden.
*Note: you can buy packages of slivered almonds or, if you have raw almonds on hand, you can blanch them and toast them.

3. Place toasted almonds, grated cheese and lemon juice into the food processor along with the garlic scapes.

4. Add olive oil, salt and pepper and process until smooth.


Enjoy this as a dip, spread or even broiled on top of some chicken.