Garlic Escapes

This entire month is getting away from me between weekends out of town and bike rides and cooking classes and coughing. But since the season of the unusual garlic scape is so devastatingly short, you have to strike while the iron is hot and put the scapes to good use, which is just what I've done.

Garlic scapes are the pliable green shoots that grow above ground while the garlic bulb grows below. If the scape is not cut from the garlic, the bulb will fail to grow larger. You don't usually find garlic scapes outside of farmers markets and they're only around for a few weeks each year, but they're amazingly inexpensive. The scapes have a milder garlic flavor than the bulb and are good cut up into eggs and salads or blended into light garlic-y dips and spreads. While they will keep fresh in your fridge for a couple of weeks, I can't stand the pressure of seeing them in there every day, so I quickly made them into a simple non-basil pesto. Just garlic scapes, walnuts, fresh lemon juice, sea salt and olive oil whirred in a food processor and that's it! Garlic scape pesto. Please, taste with your eyes.