Garlic scape pesto pizza bread

On Thursday two bundles of squeaky green garlic scapes arrived in my veg box from Northern Harvest.  I’ve had garlic scapes before, but they were thin  and spindly, these were much fatter and incredibly beautiful with their bulging flower heads tightly encased in a wafer thin skin.  Garlic scapes have all the taste of ordinary garlic, but more subtle, and with a fresher, grassier tang.

I decided to make a garlic scape pesto, using a bunch of the garlic scapes (stalks chopped and flower heads), a handful of pine nuts, lots of olive oil, and some grated Parmesan. 

Blitz up the garlic scapes and pine nuts in a blender, before adding the olive oil.  Add more oil to get the desired consistency and salt for flavour.  Tip the pesto out into a bowl, add the grated Parmesan and some ground black pepper. 

But what to do with the freshly made pesto?  N was making pizzasusing bases that we’d frozen, so I thought why not try using the pesto to make a sort of garlic pizza bread.  It was gooooooood.  Simply spread the pesto over your prepared pizza base…

…bung in a hot oven (250°C) for about 6-8 minutes until the dough is golden at the edges and the pesto sizzling.

Raw this pesto has quite a kick to it, but none of the lingering, overpowering garlicky taste that a clove of garlic has.  But cooked it mellows out, has a softer garlicky flavour and is altogether very enjoyable.  It made quite a lot of pesto so I’ve popped one pot in the freezer for another day, and one in the fridge to use this week. 

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