garlic pesto

There is an overabundance of garlic scapes hereabouts. I've roasted them with potatoes, sauteed them with vegetables and taken them to market, but still I'm inundated. Then, I came across this recipe. Or more accurately, a recipe very similar to this one but with a couple of changes.

Anyway, if you like garlic, give this recipe a whirl. This stuff is good on crackers as well as linguine.

And by the way, the season for scapes is almost over. If you'd like to try this before next year, you gotta hurry!

Garlic Pesto
This pesto keeps very well, covered and chilled up to 3 days or frozen up to 2 months.
Ingredients:
1/2 pound garlic scapes (about 
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly shredded pecorino cheese or other hard sheep's milk cheese
Preparation:
Trim and discard garlic bud. Finely chop garlic scapes, rinse thoroughly and pat or spin dry.
In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, cook vegetable oil, garlic scapes, and 1/2 tsp. salt until soft, about 3 minutes. Let cool to warm room temperature.
In a blender or food processor, pulse pine nuts to chop. Set aside. Add garlic scapes and process, scraping down sides as necessary, until bright green and smooth. With motor running, drizzle in olive oil. Pulse in reserved pine nuts and cheese. Taste and add more salt if you like.
Makes enough Garlic Pesto to coat 1 pound linguine.