Seasonal Snack: Garlic Scape Pesto Crostini's

I have to quickly sneak in this recipe because garlic scapes will be out of season come this week in CT. You may be asking what the heck are garlic scapes? Well......

...they are the "flower stalks" of hardneck garlic plants. The stalks curl-up as they grow and form quite an eccentric shape! By snipping off the scapes before the flowerheads mature allows the plant to direct more energy into the growing garlic bulb. The bottom line - they taste delicious, especially as a pesto, which I only recently discovered! Much more milder than garlic, they have a chive like flavor that makes for an addictive pesto. All you need to add is olive oil, lemon juice, herbs, salt and pepper. You can use it on pasta, as a spread on sandwiches or grilled pizza, a dip for veggie's, and on crostini's! Here I spread the pesto on toasted multi-grain crostini's, added some sunflower shoots, and baby roma tomatoes. It is a surprising and delightful seasonal snack!

Garlic Scape Pesto

Ingredients:

• 10-12 garlic scapes
• 1/2 cup herbs, chopped (chives, basil, thyme, parsley) 
• 1/4-1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons, lemon juice 
• Sea salt and ground pepper to taste
• 1/2 multi-grain baguette, sliced and toasted 

Directions:

1. Put the scapes, herbs, lemon juice and olive oil in a food processor. 
2. Pulse until all the ingredients are blended smoothly. 
3. Taste and check the consistency, you can add more olive oil if you would like it to be thinner.  
4. Add salt and pepper to taste. You need quite a bit of salt to balance out the flavor. 
5. Spread onto crostini's and add desired toppings. 

*You can also add nuts or Parmesan cheese to mixture for a richer taste and thicker texture.

Makes: 3/4-1cup