The Great Scape

It’s that time of year when the green market is a veritable treasure trove of extraordinary fruit and veg, And up in Vermont, where I had the good fortune to spend the 4th of July holiday, the bounty seemed that much more glorious and, in some cases, significantly less expensive than the New York prices I’m accustomed to. So needless to say I was very motivated to load up a cooler full of goodies to take home with me. Among my haul was a large bunch of green garlic scapes. Though the aromatic curling tops are delicious simply thrown on the grill and served alongside a hulking piece of meat, I thought this time around I’d put half of them to use in a pesto instead. Scapes replaced the basil, and I swapped raw pistachios for the traditional pine nuts since that’s what happened to be in my pantry. Just toss the nuts, scapes, cheese, salt and pepper in a food processor and chop until fine, then add the oil in a slow stream. Reserve some pasta water (I used about 1 cup) to swirl in with the pesto before adding the pasta. Grate cheese and toss some pistachios atop, then serve!

12 garlic scapes

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/2 cup raw pistachios

1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

the ingredients

in the food processor

voila!