using up our csa share: garlic scapes

I loooove garlic, so the few weeks that all of those garlic scapes come from the CSA are like Christmas. I think they taste like a green onion and a garlic clove had babies, which are really two of my favorite vegetables (alliums, but whatever), so my weird excitement is not all that surprising. I usually make garlic scape pesto, freeze it, and add it to salad dressings, pasta sauce, meat marinades, etc. I had a ton of garlic scapes though, so I decided to make a little dip, as well. I saved a few extra scapes to just add to salads and soups that I’ve made over the past few days. Since they’re milder than an actual garlic clove, they’re really versatile.

Garlic scape pesto
Adapted from Food52

Ingredients

1 cup garlic scapes
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/4 cup Parmesan, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Throw all of the ingredients except the olive oil in your food processor and pulse until everything is well blended. Then, with the processor on, pour in the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. I like to freeze my pesto in ice cube trays because that makes the perfect portions to add onto roasted veggies, mix with some extra oil for a salad dressing, spread on some tasty bread with some tomatoes for bruschetta, or to add a little something extra to pretty much any soup. Be adventurous!

Creamy garlic scape dip
Adapted from Pinch of Yum

Ingredients

1/2 cup garlic scape pesto (above)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
Dollop of sour cream (optional)
Handful of Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

Directions

I made the pesto, filled up an ice cube tray with it, and then used the leftover pesto in the food processor to make the dip to minimize the dishes. Just add the yogurt and sour cream (if using) to the food processor, and mix thoroughly. Serve with veggies or pita chips as a dip. Or we used this on baked potatoes, which was delicious. I also mixed it in with the yolks of some hard boiled eggs for deviled eggs too, which was super easy and tasty too. Feel free to experiment!