Making Scape Pesto & Cured Garlic Pesto

What better way to kick off July than by making some fresh pesto? We made three batches from a giant bag of basil a friend gave to us from her garden (one with scapes and sunflower seeds, one with a little less oil and a little more basil, and one with lots of cured garlic). One thing we noticed which we found rather interesting was that the Parmesan was supposed to be grated according to one recipe but left as a whole chunk for another. Personally, I do not see how the grating could make much of a difference, assuming you have a properly functioning food processor! The scape pesto was much more pungent and lacking that deep, stay-on-your-breath flavor that’s created by curing garlic and seemingly enhanced by pine nuts.

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we added young garlic harvested a bit too early in place of scapes
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thank you, Fromage, for this delicious hunk of parm!
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voila! scape pesto
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UConn Dining generously provided us with a food processor for recipes like these