Garlic Scape Pesto

I've had storebought pesto and of course, pesto in restaurant meals. But I've never had the occasion to make my own. Happily, we have the benefit of a small herb garden this summer, so I knew I had plenty of basil and parsley for this recipe.

I did have to go to the health food store to buy garlic scapes. I had no idea how many would make up the recipe, so I bought six, as they cost twenty-five cents a piece. Yes, a little interesting, that they sell by the piece and not the ounce. The rest of the ingredients I already had on hand at home, some grated Parmesan, some lemon juice, some nuts (I used pecans, as my roomie does not care for pine nuts).

Enter the dilemma. I already have my eggs cracked for the omelet I'm to make which requires this pesto. And the mushrooms are roasting in the oven.  I begin to read the directions for the pesto, having laid out the ingredients. 

Hmmm. A food processor? Well, surely a blender will do in a pinch.  I grab my wee personal blender, and try to stuff the ingredients in there. Push the button. Nothing, just a whirring noise. No movement in the blender whatsoever. OK. Let's try the Big Blender.  Drop the ingredients in, and confidently push the "puree" button. Yup, lots of whirring noise, but that's about it. I add a little olive oil and look hopefully at the mess in the blender. No chopping, no blending, no nothing. This is when I learn that there really is a difference between a food processor and a blender. And we do not own a food processor.

So I dig the mess out of the pitcher and into a metal bowl. I carefully hold the mess in place with a wooden spoon and methodically slice a knife through the herbs and assorted ingredients, to attempt to chop the herbs down into somewhat smaller pieces. Fortunately, I had already pre-sliced the scapes.

Here's the good news. I put a couple dollops of the non-pulverized pesto inside the Chanterelle Omelet with Fresh Chevre (see the blog), and it tasted just as marvelous as if I had used a Food Processor. Maybe it's time, tho, to check the sales on Food Processors... BTW, this pesto recipe will likely fit in one jar if it is pulverized properly. But I get twice the product this way! Use it within a week. And we will. It tastes terrific!