Here is it – finally – the recipe and photos for my Garlic Scape-Kale Pesto recipe. We are still using what this recipe made earlier in the week; tonight I added a teaspoon to each serving of my stand-by red lentil soup along with serving more pasta tossed with the garlic scape-kale pesto (hard to get enough of that!) and some chopped red peppers from the freezer.
Ingredients:
1 cup garlic scapes (about 8 or 9 scapes) cut into ¼-inch slices
3-5 leaves lacinato (dinosaur) kale, tough stems removed and then slice into sideways strips
1/3 cup walnuts, pecans, or pine nuts (toasting these adds a nice twist)
3/4 cup olive oil
~ 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
(I omitted since there is enough salt from the cheese for me)
black pepper to taste (I did not add any)
Directions:
Place scapes, kale, and nuts in the bowl of a food processor and grind until well combined and somewhat smooth but not purely pureed. Slowly drizzle in oil and process until integrated but there is still some “chunkiness”.
Transfer mix to a mixing bowl. Add parmesan, salt and pepper to taste. Makes about 1-1/2 cups of pesto. Keeps for up to one week in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Or transfer to an ice-cube tray and freeze to be defrosted and used one cube at a time at your leisure. The latter approach makes scape pesto available even in mid-winter, when it’s use can make a scrumptious dish.
This pesto is bright green in contrast to the beautiful light green pesto made just from the garlic scapes.
Enjoy, enjoy – there is no shortage of ways to use any pesto, let alone a pesto made with kale, my favorite vegetable.
Where kale continues to be more than decoration on my plate!
All photos are credited to Diana Dyer.
This post was borrowed with permission from Diana’s kale blog, 365 Days of Kale.
Diana, I can’t wait to try this, I love kale (one of the few greens I do love!). I confess I had to look up what a garlic scape is — now I know — but is there any reason garlic cloves wouldn’t be good with this if I don’t have the scapes? Thanks for posting!
Glad you’re going to try it! Use your favorite pesto recipe that already uses garlic and simply add a chopped raw dark green kale leaf (without the tough stem) or two to the blender or food processor along with the other ingredients.