Garlic Scape Pistachio Pesto Hummus

Garlic scapes, basil, parsley and pistachios combined in a traditional hummus base for a fresh Spring dip. Garlic scape pesto freezes to have this seasonal treat year round.

For other recipes using Garlic Scapes, please see my Garlic & Garlic Scapes Recipe Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for seasonal eaters faced with a staggering amount of fresh produce we just don't know what to do with. I've got a Pinterest board of Garlic Scape Recipes here, and a Round Up of 28+ Food Blogger Recipes Using Garlic Scapes here. Want to know how to Use This Blog?

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Part One: The Making of Garlic Scape Pesto

To paraphrase Dick Van Dyke's Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ("Don't waste your pucker on some all day sucker.  And don't try a toffee or cream.  If you seek perfection in sugar confection, well, there's something new on the scene") don't waste your scapes in some Spring stir fry, instead try this pesto, it's green.

When I read Annie's post about garlic scape pesto I was intrigued.  I'd never tried it, but it sounded good.  When my CSA farm share and my garlic bed provided me with garlic scapes I knew I'd give it a try.  As it turned out, I didn't follow my own directions for stocking up on pesto supplies before the garlic scapes appeared.  I did have a block of parmesan, but I didn't have any pine nuts.

I got to thinking . . . why do I have to use pine nuts in pesto?  Weren't the original pesto makers just using what was readily available to them, not sourcing to China to make a sauce? (Check your bag of pine nuts, you'd be surprised)  I mean, I had great success using almonds and cashews in my Fresh Tomato Pesto.  In my pantry I've got almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and sunflower seeds available--I chose pistachios for this just because they are green and would enhance the bright green of this garlic scape pesto.

[In fact, I had a lil' ol' pestopalooza party with all the garlic scapes and fresh herbs after my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share resumed--that flood of green after the long winter was so welcome--sure, the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve provided some lovely orange veggies, but man, I missed getting a big ol' box of leafy veggies each week!  I made pesto using garlic scapes and sun dried tomatoes.  I used basil and parsley for the leaves. I used pistachios and sunflower seeds for the nuts.  I wrote down the various combinations, but my favorite is the one I'm sharing below--garlic scapes with pistachio nuts and basil.]

Because I plan ahead, and will be putting up this pesto by freezing it, I keep it a little thicker by using less oil.  By freezing this pesto, the plant cell walls that weren't disrupted by the food processor will burst, resulting in a more liquid pesto when thawed.  If you're not planning on saving some for later, use more oil.

Part Two: The Making of Garlic Scape Pesto Hummus

My spouse loves hummus.  He can dig through a Costco-sized vat of it in less than a week, without even breaking a sweat.  I knew it was easy to make, but it was easier to pick up a vat on my weekly Costco runs during sled hockey season--easier than remembering to buy tahini or turn the bag of dried chick peas into a bowl of cooked chick peas, that is.

Last summer, though, I was both out of a spouse and a weekly trip to Costco--but I did have tahini.  I followed the Shiksa's lovely directions for cooking my dried chick peas, and bingo.  I started making hummus.

I wanted to try something different [surprise, surprise]--I wanted to sub the usual garlic, or roasted garlic, with some garlic scapes.  Since I'd created a bunch of garlic scape pestos at my pestopalooza above, I opted to use the pistachio & basil version. The result is delicious, and I am ridiculously proud of the photos I took using my little point and shoot camera.  So proud, in fact, that it's been exceedingly difficult to sit on this blog post until now.  You see, I'm all about seasonal foods from my CSA farm share, and by the time I got my hummus with garlic scape pesto made, photographed, and written, I figured garlic scape season would be over most everywhere. So here, at what I hope is the advent of garlic scape season, I present to you Garlic Scape Pesto Hummus.

In fact, you could say this batch started it all--I've since created and posted Kale and Sumac Hummus, Sriracha Butternut Squash Hummus, Buffalo Butternut Squash Hummus, and Avocado Feta Hummus. [I'm feeling the need, the need for another Clickable Collage!]


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Part Three:  The Recipes

Note: a food processor or electric chopper makes quick work of these recipes.

Garlic Scape Pistachio Pesto
By Kirsten Madaus

Garlic scapes blended with pistachio nuts, basil, and parsley. This seasonal pesto freezes well.

Prep time: 00:20
Cook time: 00:00
Total time: 00:20

Yield: about 2 cups, easily scaled up based on the amount of garlic scapes you have

Ingredients:
1 cup garlic scapes
1 cup basil leaves (or combine basil and parsley leaves)
¼ cup pistachio nuts, toasted a few minutes in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant
⅓ to ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 to 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt (I use kosher)
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup (2 ounces by volume) olive oil plus more if you plan to use right away

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, pulse to get them chopped, then process until uniformly blended.

If you have the technology to add the olive oil separately via some sort of feeder tube, do so. It's worth the pain to clean it. If you don't--don't worry. All will be fine.

Taste and decide if you want more cheese, or more lemon juice, or more olive oil or salt.

If you're planning to put this up, and I really recommend it, scoop it onto a wax paper-lined tray and freeze for a couple of hours, then transfer to a labeled bag for storage. Or fill up half pint jars or small lidded containers.

Garlic Scape Pesto Hummus

Ingredients

• 2½ cups cooked chick peas (or 2 cans)
• ½ cup scallions, chopped
• ½ cup (4 ounces by volume) tahini
• ½ cup (4 ounces by volume) lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
• ½ cup parsley or celery leaves
• ¾ teaspoon salt (I use kosher)
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin seed
• 2 Tablespoons garlic scape pesto (recipe above)
• ¼ cup (2 ounces by volume) olive oil, plus more to drizzle over the serving bowl

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor, pulse to get it going, then process until thoroughly combined and uniformly smooth.  
2. Serve with vegetables to dip, or as the base of a layered vegetable appetizer, spread on bread in a sandwich, on top of burgers . . .

Want more hummus suggestions? Click on the images below to go to the recipe.

This post is shared on Tasty Tuesdays, Simple Supper Tuesdays, Fresh Foods Wednesday, What's Cookin Wednesday, Fiesta Friday, From the Farm Blog Hop, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Eating Inside The Box