Today’s post makes perfect use of these crazy little Dr. Seuss-esque greens we call garlic scapes.
It’s a creamy savory garlic scape pesto that melts in your mouth and all over your favorite pasta or zucchini noodle sauté.
Meet garlic scapes. If you’ve never grown garlic or spotted it in the wild it’s pretty cool. We received these in our CSA share from WSU Organic Farm.
Garlic. We are most familiar with the white-purple bulbous shape that grows just underneath the ground’s surface. From there it stretches up as a tall firm-reedy green stalk and will grow up to 4 ft in height.
At the top it spindles into a white and green cone-shaped flower. The top as seen in the photo above is the garlic scape. These are trimmed near the middle to end of June to help promote full growth of the garlic bulb we love so much.
Eat scapes raw or cooked, they have a mild flavor compared to garlic cloves.
Need cooking inspiration? Sauté or roast them like asparagus.
Other garlic geekery
- Can grow year-round in mild climates
- Might scare off rabbits and moles [I wonder if they fend off voles too??]
- 🇨🇳 China produces 81% of the world’s garlic coming in at 44 billion pounds a year
- Put to antiseptic use during WWI & II to prevent gangrene
- Garlic will keep longer if the stalk remains attached
- Braided strands are called plaits or grappes
- 🐘 Elephant garlic is actually a wild leek
- We’ve been using it for over 7,000 years
- Grown in every state except Alaska
- Takes 1-2 months to dry out
The Pesto
Garlic scapes are the base. Because of their size and quantity they balance out the bulk given to traditional pesto by basil, spinach, or kale.
Garlic cloves. Because yes. We are garlic lovers.
Fresh basil.
Ripe avocado. For a creamy full-flavored texture.
Salt.
White miso. Exceptional experience with food usually has a balance of salty, sweet, sour, and fat. Miso adds a little salt, but also that umami sense of flavor. Savory. Mouth-watering.
Lemon juice for the tart sour flavor. The liquid also helps open up all of the ingredients creating the sauce-like texture that we love.
Nooch aka nutritional yeast. Also falling under the umami category, nooch adds a helping of b vitamins and that cheesy flavor we expect and crave.
Creamy Garlic Scape Pesto + Meal Idea
Ingredients
- 8-9 garlic scapes (91g // bunched together about the circumference of a quarter)
- 5 cloves garlic (14g)
- 3 loose cups basil (47g) // non-woody stems are okay
- 2 tablespoons of avocado // quarter of an avocado
- 1 tablespoon organic white miso (18g)
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ground black pepper to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons of water
Instructions
- Add garlic scapes and garlic to a food processor fitted with the s-blade. Process until ground, but not puréed. Next add in basil, salt, miso, lemon juice, ground black pepper, and nutritional yeast. Pulse 2-3 times then add in the avocado and pulse until blended adding in any water—if needed—to achieve desired texture.
- Store leftovers in the fridge with a layer of saran wrap pressed to the surface to keep color and flavor fresh.
Meal Idea for two
Since we have the propensity to consume large amounts of pasta I measured out a serving size of noodles for each of us.
For once leftovers will be damned. 😜
Cooked the pasta according to package instructions and dropped some broccoli florets in the last several minutes of cooking – usually < 5 minutes.
While that’s going I whipped up a batch of Garlic-Italian Style Chickpeas. They’re warm and soft with a few crunchy edges.
When the pasta is done drain into a colander. If broccoli finishes before the pasta use a slotted spoon to lift it out and then run it under cold water to prevent overcooking.
Stir pesto into the warm pasta – about 1-2 tablespoons each. Serve with broccoli and chickpeas.
Oh man this was a good meal!! I love pesto and it’s another one of those foods I didn’t try until my 20s. On a goal to make up for lost time.
I’d love to see your food pics! If you give this recipe a whirl, let us know. <3 Leave a comment below and don’t forget to tag a picture with #feedyourskull on Instagram!
Have you ever had garlic scapes before?? How do you like to eat them? xx