Today was one of those days where I just wanted to be experimenting in the kitchen. I had just harvested some garlic scapes from my garden, and some dandelion greens from my yard and immediately knew that I wanted to try a pesto! I came up with this delicious dandelion pesto after much experimenting today!
What are garlic scapes and dandelion greens?
Now you might be wondering “what exactly are dandelion greens and garlic scapes?” I know the first time I heard these phrases when discussing gardens I was super thrown off!
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Garlic scapes are the stalks that grow from the bulbs of hardneck garlic plants. If left unharvested, the scapes eventually bloom flowers! They taste super garlicky so they are a great supplement to use in cooking! Now dandelion greens are exactly what they sound like, those big leafy greens that come from those tiresome weeds in your garden.
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Wait, weeds?
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Yes, weeds!!
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You can actually eat those little guys right up, including the flowers! If you forage around your home yard for dandelions you can throw them into your cooking! (please be aware that this is not safe to do if you use hard pesticides on your law to keep it lush and green!) There are numerous uses for those pretty yellow flowers that I will post about at a later date, but those leafy greens can be utilized for just about anything too! They are fairly similar to kale in their bitter taste, which is important to keep in mind when cooking with it!
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I was fortunate enough to be able to forage for some myself, but every once in a while I have to supplement with some from the store. You can often find them at health-food stores, I have never seen them at a local chain supermarket though.
This pesto was so easy to make and it only took about 15 minutes! there is almost no prep involved, everything just goes right in the food processor and blends down! It can’t get easier than that right?
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You only need a few ingredients to make them, and if you’re lucky one of them can be found in your very yard!
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I utilized three kinds of basil from my garden for this recipe, Genovese, Thai, and Purple, but you could obviously stick with your traditional basil from the store!
The only materials you will need are a food processor and some jars to store your fresh pesto! This pesto will usually stay good for up to a week in the fridge (if stored correctly) and up to 3-4 months in the freezer! I split mine up or make a double batch so that I can freeze a bunch and still enjoy some!
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Here’s the recipe for this delicious dandelion-garlic scape pesto, I hope you enjoy it!
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Did you try this recipe? Let me know what you think or if you have any pesto recipes that you love, I’d love to hear them! Feel free to comment below!
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