Vegan Garlic Scape Pesto

Despite the oppressive heat the garden is doing surprisingly well - of course, the new drip irrigation system is a big help and it saves time. It also keeps the water splash down on the tomatoes, squash, eggplant, and peppers which keeps the plants looking healthy.

Last fall I planted 54 cloves of garlic, today they are about 3.5 feet high and some of the leaves are starting to brown. I’m excited to dig it up and see how things fared. If you recall last year, I forgot to remove the garlic scapes and my garlic was very small and sad. 

So as not to be sad again, I took a class on growing garlic in MN and learned a lot - for example, did you know that there are more than 600 named varieties of garlic? They are divided into 2 types - hard neck and soft neck. I planted 2 varieties of Rocambole, which are nothing to look at but have the best flavor, and Purple Stripe. But what do you do with the garlic scapes? Some people add them to a stir fry or soup, some grill or roast them, and I make pesto out of them. 

This pesto can be frozen and used in the same way as any other pesto my favorite uses are pasta, pizza, and toasted bread with a thick slice of tomato and avocado. 

Ingredients:

10 Garlic Scapes 154g

1/3 C Walnuts 30g

2 Tbs Nutritional Yeast 12g

1/2 Lemon juiced

1/4 tsp Sea Salt

1/8 tsp Ground Black Pepper

1/3 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil 73g

Instructions:

Trim the garlic scapes by cutting just below the bulb. Discard the bulb/tip and cut the scapes into about 1" pieces.

In a food processor, add the scapes, walnuts, yeast, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Process by pulsing until the mixture begins to break down. Scrape the bowl down.

With the processor running, slowly add all the olive oil. Continue to process until all the ingredients are incorporated and broken down, about 30-45 seconds, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed.

Store in a covered container in the fridge and enjoy within a week. Also, you can freeze the pesto in a small container (as shown above) or in an ice-cube tray. Once frozen, in the ice-cube tray, remove and place in a ziplock bag in the freezer.

The weather person says a chance of rain today - fingers crossed!