Garlic Scape Pesto Sauce

My friend Mary S, of the green thumb, has been gifting me garlic scapes. Since her garlic was planted in the fall and is almost as tall as me, her garlic has lots of scapes, whereas my garlic was planted in the spring, and the tallest plant might be, oh, six inches high, and there are no scapes to be seen. Since I had some basil leftover from another dish, I decided to make a sauce. You will need a blender for this recipe.

Garlic Scape Pesto Sauce

• 1 cup of tightly packed basil leaves
• 1 cup of garlic scapes, chopped into 1 to 2 inch pieces
• 1 cup of olive oil (make sure it’s safe for you, I do well with California Olive Ranch)
• 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar (make sure it’s safe for you)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Roughly chop up the basil leaves. Add the basil, garlic scapes, olive oil, and vinegar to the blender.  Process until the sauce is pulverized to your liking. I like mine pretty smooth.

This is a pretty versatile sauce. It can be used mixed into cooked hot rice noodles or even just brown rice to use as a savory side dish. You can use it as a dipping sauce for grilled meat, or toss it with steamed veggies. You can thin it down with a little more vinegar and use it as a salad dressing.  If you come up with other ways to use it, please let us know.

Enjoy!