See Scapes

We've written about these curly green critters before, but truth is, we love us some garlic scapes so much you're just gonna have to sit there and listen to us extol their virtues all over again. The twisting coils impart such a cool garlickiness to dishes; the flavor is not quite ramp, not quite leek or scallion, definitely not full-blown head of garlic. Singularly scape. They're great raw, roasted, sauteed in butter and olive oil, but our favorite vehicle for the garlic scape's unusual flavor is pesto. We just whipped up a batch with scapes from Weavers Way based on last summer's recipe, with a few improvements. Instead of straight almonds, we used half almonds and half pignoli (and toasted a handful of both to bring out some smokiness). Also, we rounded out the basil with some grapefruit mint and lemon balm, both of which are threatening to overtake the yard (but really, pesto loves all herbs, so by all mean, use what you've got). The ingredient that made the difference in this summer's scape pesto might surprise you: green grapes. Scapes on their own can be a little astringent; the grapes' natural sugars smooths the rough edges, accentuates the sweetness of the herbs and provides a burst of mouthwatering juiciness we dig. Be sure to use green grapes, so as to not fuck with your pesto's beautiful green-yellow hue. Make a huge batch; it freezes so well you'll be able to eat June long into December.