Grilled Green Beans with Garlic Scape Pesto and Parm (side dish and appetizer)

 Fresh green beans, grilled until nicely browned, tossed with a garlic scape pesto dressing and buried under a dusting of Parmesan cheese. Use the leftovers for an appetizer wrapped in salami.

I have been all up in my grill for the past two months. Ever since my spouse assembled the monster, the grill became an never-ending source of inspiration for side dishes and planned overs aka repurposed leftovers. Now that I type it out, my farm share box is often the same sort of inspiration, albeit perishable inspiration.

I started a Grill Life List with a slip of paper, documenting all of the vegetables and meats I've grilled so far. Then I misplaced the slip of paper. I'm switching to notebooks. Speaking of, although I have not tried this system, I know a few folks who use it and it looks cool: Bullet Journal.

Today's recipe was made in that window of time after I've used up all the winter farm share stores, emptied the freezer of bulk frozen vegetables [Garlic Scape Pesto and Green Tomato Bacon Jam remain at the ready] and have to actually shop for vegetables in the store until the farm share starts. I asked my spouse what veggies he felt like eating and he wanted green beans. Green beans can give me something to work with, are good blog fodder, so I picked up a massive bag of the tender fresh ones at Costco.

I'm sharing this recipe both as YET ANOTHER NUDGE to make and freeze garlic scape pesto [my previous nudge is Grilled Garlic Scape Pesto Smashed Potatoes] but also because it fits in with my summer eating plan [more about that in the future when I have space to sit and write]. In a nutshell, though, when you're cooking, cook extra to use on nights when you don't have time/it's too hot to cook. This is not rocket science. I mean, I can come up with plenty of reasons not to cook--it's too hot, too rainy, I get home too late, I'm out of ______ (insert name of key ingredient). This reminds me of Matt Scott's Nike commercial. Point is, when I do cook I may as well cook as many things as I can, and figure out ways to use them later.

After enjoying these beans as a side dish I turned the leftovers into a savory appetizer. I wrapped 3 to 4 beans in a slice of thin salami and served the bundles alongside other leftover vegetables, cheese, and crackers. The pairing of crunchy grilled green beans with salty salami is a good one, and way too easy to make.

For more recipes using green beans, please see my Green Bean Recipes Collection. For more recipes using garlic scapes, please see my Garlic Scape Recipes Collection. These are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. You can find more vegetable appetizers on my Pinterest board, Awesome Veggie Apps and Snacks. Want to know how to Use This Blog? Click here.

Grilled Green Beans with Garlic Scape Pesto and Parm

1 pound fresh green beans (de-stringed if they are that kind)
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil, divided
salt and pepper, a generous pinch of each
2 Tablespoons Garlic Scape Pesto (here's how I make mine)
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

optional for planned over appetizer: thin slices of salami (I like Costco's brand because they are very thin and very large)

Preheat grill to high heat for 10 to 15 minutes. If you have a grilling basket please preheat that too. Once the grill is hot, brush the grill grates with a cleaning brush. Reduce heat to medium. In a large bowl, toss beans with 1-2 teaspoons of vegetable oil and sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt. In a small bowl toss garlic scape pesto with remaining vegetable oil and set aside. Spread beans across preheated grill basket. Close lid and grill, undisturbed, for 4-5 minutes. Open lid and stir, then cover and cook another 5 minutes until the beans are browned it places but still retain a bit of crunch. Remove from grill and toss beans with garlic scape pesto dressing then transfer to a serving bowl. Sprinkle again with a generous pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper, then grate Parmesan cheese over top. Serve warm or room temp.

Bonus Salami & Green Bean Bundles Appetizer--roll up 3-4 beans into a large thin slice of salami. Stack rolls onto a plate. Serve at room temperature.