Easy Garlic Scape Pesto Recipe
Try this Easy Garlic Scape Pesto Recipe recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Easy Garlic Scape Pesto Recipe recipe, or contribute your own.
- Carbohydrate 1.3341600027068 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 120.791601920119 g
- Fiber 0.377400005629424 g
- Protein 1.39638000283303 g
- Saturated Fat 16.2156683729902 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (124g)
- Sodium 157.512357238533 mg
- Sugar 0.956759997077375 g
- Trans Fat 4.16705970261471 g
- Calories 1075 calories
Step-by-step
- Add the basil, garlic scapes, grated parmesan cheese, lemon juice and pine nuts to your food processor and blend until chopped.
- Slowly add in the food processor while continuing to blend.
- If the mixture seems thick, add in a few tablespoons at a time until it's reached it's desired consistency.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Serve over fresh zucchini noodles, pasta or spread on fresh baked bread and enjoy.
Standard basil pesto relies on soft leaves and muted garlic cloves, but this variation uses garlic scapes, the rigid flowering stems harvested from hardneck garlic plants. Scapes possess a fibrous cell structure that resists breaking down, which means a standard food processor blade will struggle unless the stems are cut into quarter-inch pieces before pulsing. Long scapes left whole will wrap around the spindle and leave fibrous green ribbons throughout the emulsion.
Using fresh, snappy scapes harvested within the last week yields a sharp, pungent kick that softens only slightly when blended with oil. Older scapes grow woody and hollow, forcing the blades to tear the fibers rather than shear them cleanly, resulting in a stringy paste. Fresh basil leaves provide necessary herbal softening, but adding them too early can bruise the chlorophyll and turn the purée a dull, swampy brown.
Pour the extra virgin olive oil in a thin, steady stream through the feed tube while the machine runs to properly emulsify the fat with the grated parmesan and pine nuts. Olive oil containing high polyphenol counts will introduce a bitter edge when aggressively aerated by a metal blade. Neutralizing this requires a precise balance of freshly squeezed lemon juice, which provides the necessary acid to brighten the heavy fats without watering down the paste.
Freezing this green sauce requires a thin barrier of neutral oil poured across the surface to block ambient oxygen and prevent enzymatic browning during storage in the refrigerator or freezer. Thaw frozen portions overnight in the refrigerator rather than using a microwave, as direct heat will melt the dairy solids and separate the oil from the solid plant matter.
