Some of my garlic has started sending up scapes. I have read they have a culinary use, but no one seems to elaborate on that statement! Can anyone tell me how they are used and suggest how to prepare them?
You can pickle them, use them as a substitute for basil in pesto(great garlic pesto!) Use them in a fritatta, cook with them as you usually would with garlic, just realize that it will have a garlicky flavor only different. The flavor isn't as deep, but still very good. I'm a big fan of the pesto!
Garlic pesto--sounds great to me! I'll make a small batch to balance the proportions. We have fritatta at least once a week for lunch (thank you hens!) so I'll try that also. Thank you--now I know how to use scapes!
We just saute them with vegetables in place of garlic. They are very pretty: deep green curlicues, they make a nice statement in a dish.
Hey Guy, so do you leave the garlic out of the pesto, then? Because my pesto just has basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan cheese and olive oil.
Willow, I used the scapes in pesto, substituting them for garlic cloves. The taste was milder, but still had a good garlic "tang". My recipe for pesto is the same as yours, except I substitute ground pecans for the pine nuts. I'm too cheap to buy pine nuts when pecans are thick on the ground rolleyes:) around here!
Yes, I remember those days, when we first moved there, the house we rented had 5 pecan trees in the back yard
