Garlic Scape and Spinach Pesto

Garlic scapes are the immature flower stalks that shoot up from heads of garlic; if you've ignored a head of garlic for a few weeks you might have sprouted some in your own kitchen.  They are generally available in the spring, when they are harvested while the garlic is still young.  This encourages the plants to put their energy toward growing larger bulbs.  The plants' loss is our gain however, as the tender scapes provide lots of fresh, garlicky flavor without the bite of cloves of garlic.  They can also be sauteed, cut into 1-2 inch pieces and added to stir fries as you would asparagus or scallions, or incorporated into a white bean dip.  

I think their flavor is best enjoyed raw, so I used this week's spinach and scapes to make a pesto.

Add these ingredients to a food processor:

• 3-4 full garlic scapes, chopped down into 1 inch pieces
• bunch of spinach, washed and spun dry
• 1/3 cup almond slivers, lightly toasted (in oven or dry pan)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup grated parm
• pinch of salt
• ground pepper to taste

Pulse in food processor while drizzling in another 1/4 cup of olive oil.  Taste, and add more salt and pepper if necessary.  If the garlic taste is too intense for you, add a little more oil and/or parm.  Pesto freezes very well, so go ahead and use it or freeze until tomatoes are in season.

I served it over whole wheat penne (I think whole wheat pasta works better with pestos and cream sauces than tomato based sauces), with some course chopped heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.  Made some garlic bread on the side... I figured my breath was going to smell like garlic anyway, might as well just really go for it.  This turned out really well, and it really looks like the Italian flag on a plate.  The garlic taste was more intense than I would have expected, so I added some extra parm.  It made for a slightly thicker sauce, but it clung well to the pasta.  I topped the noodles with the sauce, but next time I think I would just toss everything together.  The spinach was a great addition to the pesto, and i would definitely make this again.