Garlic scape pesto pasta and garlic brie toasts

Garlic festival is this weekend in Hutchinson, home to everything from black garlic to garlic ice cream. Clearly, it's time to get your garlic on.

These recipes use garlic at two stages: garlic scapes and fresh bulbs. Growers cut the tops off garlic plants in early summer so the bulbs don't waste energy flowering and concentrate on bulb production; the result is garlic scapes. They look like a lighter green, solid green onion and you can find them at farmers markets or some coops in season. They have less bite than garlic bulbs, but lots of garlic flavor and are fun to experiment with.


Garlic scape pesto pasta
From  epicurious.com

Ingredients
10 large garlic scapes
1/3 cup unsalted shelled pistachios
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 pound cooked pasta

Method
In a food processor, puree garlic scapes, pistachios, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Slowly pour in olive oil while motor is running and mix until emulsified. Season to taste with more salt and pepper. Toss with al dente pasta. Sauce can be made ahead.

Rating: A very bright, flavorful pesto. The garlic flavor is noticeable, but much more muted and less harsh than mature garlic cloves. Would make a lovely pesto for a crostini appetizer with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella.

Speaking of appetizers, these are delightful:



Garlic brie toasts
A friend made us this appetizer to serve along with gin and tonics. She said we were the guinea pigs for it, and we were very willing. Not sure who to credit for the original idea because I believe a cookbook was involved, but if I find out, I'll pass it along.

Ingredients
22 slices of baguette
8 really large garlic cloves, the fresher the better
8-ounce round of brie

Method
Slice garlic as thinly as possible. This is where the bigger garlic cloves really help, since it's easier to slice big cloves with a mandoline (or a knife) than it is the teensy ones. Cover bread slices with the slivers of garlic.

Slice brie thinly and place over garlic. Broil until brie is bubbly and turning golden.You want to leave them in long enough so the garlic gets cooked a bit but before the brie tries to melt off the bread.

Rating: Sometimes simplicity is stupendous. These are sublime when made with the first fresh garlic of the season. Our friends used garlic they'd just harvested from their garden and we used some from the farmers market. They were good even without the gin and tonics, although perhaps not quite as relaxing. (Thanks again, Sonja and Bernie.)