Roast Pork and Potatoes with Garlic Scape Pesto
I’ve just brushed my teeth for ten full minutes and still have garlic scape burps.
Since it’s still early in the season, we’ve been getting garlic scapes in our CSA box. The question is, what is a garlic scape and what does one do with them?
When you think of garlic, you most likely picture an entire bulb, or head, but as it grows, the stalk is referred to as the garlic scape. They are long and green, windy and perfectly smooth, reminiscent of green onions or garlic chives with a not-so-subtle garlic flavour. You can chop them and add them to soups, stir-fries, salads.. or you could make a batch of garlicky pesto. Over the weekend we’ll be dipping into this for pasta, mashed potatoes.. maybe a pasta or potato salad? Minestrone?
I pulled a pork loin from the freezer and roasted it with quartered potatoes, all drizzled with a bit of canola oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Both were fab with the pesto. Ali made a chopped salad with other CSA goodies-lettuce, peas, radishes-yum.
Garlic Scape Pesto
adapted from (inspired by?) What Geeks Eat
a couple handfuls of fresh garlic scapes, cut into pieces a couple inches long
a big handful of fresh basil
1/2-1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
a handful of walnuts, toasted
1/2 cup(ish) extra-virgin olive oil or cold-pressed canola oilPut everything but the oil into a food processor and pulse, pouring the oil in a thin stream through the feed tube, until roughly or smoothly puréed.
August 14 2010 | pork | 11 Comments »
