Dinner Tonight: Garlic Scape Pesto
While at the market this weekend I picked up a giant handful of garlic scapes, the rather beautiful garlic flower that looks a bit like a pig's tail—they were too inexpensive and attractive to pass up. I knew I wanted them in a pasta, but I didn't know how it would play out. I read about grilling them or treating them like asparagus by chopping into 1-inch lengths and sautéing in butter, but the simplest and post popular scape pasta seemed to be tossed with pesto.
But what would I put in it? In the end, I decided to keep the variables fixed and blend together scapes, pine nuts, Parmesan, and olive oil. I also sweated a little red onion in butter over low heat to develop a sweet oniony base for the pasta, which I hoped would bring out that side of the scape's flavor.
But the resulting dish wasn't all that I'd hoped. The subtle flavor of the pine nuts was lost, and too much oil was required to get the pesto to the right consistency—even then, it was nowhere near as smooth as the basil-based pesto Genovese. The pesto itself had too much hot garlic bite. Maybe I should I have cooked the scapes first, or blended them with an herb to soften the edges? I'm open to suggestions.
About the author: Blake Royer lives in Brooklyn and spends most of his free time cooking and writing about it here at Serious Eats and on The Paupered Chef. From 9 to 5 weekdays, he works as an assistant book editor in Manhattan.
Garlic Scape Pesto
- serves 4 -
Ingredients
1 pound short pasta, such as farfalle
1 pound garlic scapes
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil, or as much as necessary
Small handful of pine nuts
1/2 small red onion, sliced
Procedure
1. Bring a pot of salty water to boil. In the meantime, cut the flowers off the scapes and cut the stalks into 1-inch pieces. Chop very well in a food processor, then add the pine nuts and blend.
2. Add olive oil slowly, pulsing, until the contents loosen into a pesto-style sauce. Remove to a bowl and stir in the Parmesan cheese, adding more oil if necessary for the right consistency.
3. In a skillet, sweat the onion with a little olive oil until softened and beginning to brown. In the meantime, cook the pasta until al dente, reserving some pasta water, then toss in with the onions. Add the pesto and add the water, if necessary, to loosen. Top with freshly grated pepper and more Parmesan cheese.
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15 Comments:
Blake, I've never tried making pesto with just garlic scapes, but here are a couple thoughts. When you make traditional pesto, you use both basil and garlic. By using only scapes, you lost the herbal balance. You've got basically straight up garlic, albeit green garlic. I would suggest you use fresh marjoram leaves. They have a soft fragrant sweetness that could possibly ease the overpowering garlickyness of the scapes. Also, use more pine nuts, maybe twice as much. Toast the pine nuts gently on a dry cast iron skillet to help them develop more flavor. Add a tiny amount of lime juice, the acidity might help brighten up the whole thing... Just my $0.02
simon at 4:46PM on 07/01/08
I wonder if you could mellow the flavor by roasting the scapes first. And I don't know why, but I have this feeling that almonds would taste good with this.
aharste at 4:48PM on 07/01/08
Our garlic pesto that we made last year had too much of a bite, so lack of flavor wasn't the problem. We didn't follow a recipe, just added items to the food processor until it felt right.
krissyc at 5:04PM on 07/01/08
Funny thing, this is my planned dinner tonight. I made it last year with my first ever bunch of scapes. I completely agree, too much raw garlic flavor. The other people who ate it disagreed. They loved it. I, however, have a very limited tolerance for the taste of raw garlic.
So, to combat my problem, I'm going to saute the scapes in olive oil before blending. I'm hoping that will rectify the flavor and texture issues. I'll saute while the water comes up to a boil, then let it cool off a bit before pureeing.
Also, I'm going to use a combination of garlic scapes and basil. Also also, I'm so glad that simon brought up acid, my pestos are amiss without it. I'll be adding a small squirt of lime juice simply to keep the basil bright. Usually it's lemon juice, but limes are all I have at the moment.
Thanks for the timely distraction and reminder to saute those scapes.
blackolive at 5:17PM on 07/01/08
I wonder if a little super dry white wine would work too........
simon at 5:26PM on 07/01/08
I agree with toasting the pine nuts first. Or, you could try walnuts, toasted. And definitely use basil along with the scapes.
tracychin at 5:57PM on 07/01/08
Blanch the scapes first. I do this for almost every preparation with them, and it helps mellow the bite without losing the flavor. For pesto try cashews instead of pine nuts-the sweetness makes a great complement- and an aged gouda instead of parmesan- ditto the sweetness. You might also try pecans and gorgonzola dolce. Totally untraditional but really really good. Try it on pasta but also as a schmear on whole wheat baguette with pears or apples. If it's still too potent, I'd add parsley, not basil- it will complement the scapes without complicating the flavor.
thatgrrl at 6:13PM on 07/01/08
Yummy looking dish. I love garlic, the more the better, I would have most likely devored this.:)
love2cook at 7:06PM on 07/01/08
i second the 'use walnuts'...
http://www.kitchenhell.com/2008/06/its-good-that-im-single.html
its my adaptation of the version of garlic scape pesto that was in the washington post a couple weeks ago...
kitchenhell at 11:43PM on 07/01/08
I would add herbs. I've made scape pesto with basil, parsley and chives (separately) this season. Different nuts balance the garlic flavor better too, like peanuts or cashews.
FoodieTots at 11:44PM on 07/01/08
There's a great garlic scape pesto we get from our local farmers market, and they happily share the recipe with anyone who asks:
1 cup almonds
1 cup olive oil
1 cup grated parmesan
2 cups scapes
Whir in food processor. Enjoy!
We use it on pasta, but also on crackers, brie, and tons of other summertime-munching snacks.
mintyfresh at 1:29AM on 07/02/08
OK. Garlic scape pesto dinner was a hit. Sauteed the scapes very briefly in a small amount of oil. Used about equal portions garlic scapes and basil. Used toasted walnuts (I nearly always use walnuts, it's what I keep on hand). Served it with whole wheat gemelli.
The quick saute completely solved the problem of too much raw garlic flavor. It was mellow and blended up very smoothly. Best pesto I've had in a while. Wish I had some left over to put in a grilled cheese for lunch tomorrow.
blackolive at 1:54AM on 07/02/08
I wish I'd read these suggestions yesterday! I too made a garlic scape pesto that was rather disappointing. Plus, 24 hours and three teeth brushings later I couldn't get the raw garlic taste (or garlic breath) to go away. I'm thinking the garlic scape is not my friend. I did use the green garlic it was attached to to make a lovely garlic infused broth for wonton soup tonight. Much better!
hmlicata at 2:15AM on 07/02/08
We made this for dinner last week. The scapes left a spicy bite, so I added some lemon juice, toasted walnuts and some extra parmesan cheese to cut the garlic taste.
stefani78 at 10:29AM on 07/02/08
This is ever so slightly off-topic, but my favorite thing to do with garlic scapes is to make hummus. The scapes plus some spinach or spicy greens blended in makes for an unusual and very delicious variation (I find that the scapes add a lovely garlicky flavor without the "heat" of the raw bulbs). A Google search should turn up lots of recipes.
meisen
meisen at 12:44PM on 07/05/08