Picture credit: greencitymarketplace.wordpress.com

Picture credit: greencitymarketplace.wordpress.com

Summer has come rushing in like a freight train this week. The Mid-Atlantic went from raining and in the high 60′s all of June to roaring into the mid 90′s over the weekend without a drop of rain. My garden is loving this warm, dry weather, lots of things popping up and getting ready to be harvested. I was so excited to actually see tomatoes have already grown now I have to be patient and wait for them to ripen before I snatch them off to make fried green tomatoes!

But my new favorite thing to play with in the kitchen is garlic scapes. They’re the little flowering shoots that suddenly appear at the ends of the leaves of the growing garlic. They’re only here for a short period of time in the spring so keep your eyes peeled for them. They’re being called the new “ramp” – which I also love and have a killer pesto recipe for too!

They’re great for almost every recipe you can use garlic in. Chop them up to top salads or for baked potatoes. Make your own salad dressing. Add them to eggs, pasta, sautéed greens, and soups. You can even pickle them or freeze them for later if you can’t use them up right away. I’ve gotten an influx of them this year so I couldn’t wait to get in the kitchen to make my own garlic scape pesto and homemade vinaigrette!

Farm Foodie Fitness Garlic Scape Pesto

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup chopped garlic scapes

1/2 Cup grated Pecorino cheese

1/2 Cup Pistachios

1/2 Cup fresh spinach

1/2 Cup high quality olive oil

Himalayan pink salt

Fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Add spinach, pistachios, garlic scapes, olive oil, salt and pepper into a food processor or immersion blender like a Vitamix. Mix well until it becomes a paste. Add in Pecorino cheese and more olive oil -if needed. Store in air tight containers.

I like to use the 4 oz canning jars to make small batches and freeze them. They can last up to a year in the freezer-just grab a spoonful when you need it. And they make great holiday and hostess gifts! Happy Cooking! If you try out my recipe send me a quick comment, let me know what you think!

You can find more recipes and my new recipe cookbook on my website.