Красный Хрен - Red Horseradish

Though the first few nights of passover have passed, I wanted to share my recipe for Красный Хрен (red horseradish), a traditional condiment for gefilte fish and a staple for many passover meals.
I opened up the garden last weekend and my one harvest so far has been an over wintered horseradish root that was dug up for the express purpose of making a few jars of this tasty condiment.
Красный Хрен - Red Horseradish
1 horseradish root, washed, peeled and diced (or grated)
2 medium beets, peeled and boiled or roasted and diced (or grated)
4-6 oz white vinegar (enough to be absorbed in the mixture but not so much that it is swimming in it)
2-3 tsp sugar
salt & pepper to taste (if desired)
Directions:
Using a food processor or hand grater finely grate or dice the horseradish. Add the grated beets to the horseradish (to ensure there is a good amount of heat let the horseradish sit in a covered container for a few minutes before the beets are added). Mix thoroughly and add a few teaspoons of sugar. Taste and adjust to desired heat or sweetness.  Add enough vinegar to absorb into the mixture, and mix very well. Transfer to jars, cover tightly, and store in the refrigerator until needed.
That is it. I wouldn't make this too far in advance as the horseradish will lose it's heat and intensity over time. For a more intense flavor use more horseradish and less of everything else! The lack of exact measurements in this recipe should serve as a general guide. The key to a good horseradish (red or white)  is to bring out the intensity of the horseradish without drowning it in vinegar. The recipe here yielded about 2 1/2 cups of red horseradish goodness.

Be sure to also check out my directions for making a traditional (white) horseradish.

Accidental Carbonation

Just before Christmas Gail and I picked up a gallon of cider at the Somerville winter market. We drank a little more then half of it before we left for Maine for New Years, but haven't really drank any since. A few days ago I noticed the gallon jug of cider was bulging and started to carbonate!!!
When I popped the top the jug let out a little hiss and had a faintly alcoholic odor. A quick search led me to conclude that the cider was entirely safe to drink, it merely had began to carbonate and start the fermentation process. We were on our way to (accidentally) making hard cider.
Unfortunately that won't be happening now as I transferred the cider to a pair of smaller containers and they will be drank relatively soon, but the carbonation and fermentation process for something like apple cider is incredibly simple and I look forward to reproducing these results again in the future, but on purpose this time!!

Have you accidentally carbonated or fermented a beverage?? If so, how did it taste?

Taking Stock for Dark Days

Below is a peek into what we managed to can & freeze which will assist us in eating locally for the Dark Days Challenge, which I posted about yesterday. Tomorrow I will be looking at some of the winter markets in my area.

homemade sauce. garlic, onions, some herbs, for seasoning, little else.

Here is a look at what we've got in the freezer as well as what we canned from our garden and local farms and farmers markets!
We have a small kitchen and limited storage space so we do the best we can. We also use some of the canned jams and relishes as gifts, because sharing is one of the best parts of canning all this wonderful stuff!
Canned & Refrigerated Goods:

corn relish. green bean/zucchini relish, pineapple salsa

Pasta Sauce 18 1/2 Quarts
Corn Relish 6 1/2 pints
Green Bean & Zucchini Relish 1 1/2 pints
Pineapple Salsa 4 1/2 pints
Blueberry Jam 1/2 pint & 4 oz jar
Peach Butter 1/2 pint
Apple Butter 1 1/2 pints
Triple Berry Jam 1 pint
Cranberry-Jalapeno Jam 1 3/4 pints
Beet Relish 5 pints
Cranberry-Apple Sauce 4 pints
Plum & Spiced Port Jam 4 1/2 pints
Ketchup Base 1 quart                                                                                   Horseradish (ground) 4 ounces                                                                                   Pickles 2 quarts

1 4 oz jar unlabeled jam. Based on color either Cran-Apple sauce or Plum & Port jam.

Frozen Goods:
Garlic Scape Pesto cubes
Basil Pesto cubes
2 1/2 lbs Frozen whole Tomatoes
cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, huckleberries
bacon, breakfast sausage, Italian beef sausage, hot Italian pork sausage, garlic and feta turkey sausage, beef kabob cubes, 1 whole turkey meatloaf, beef stew
frozen pepper strips, chives, & dill
chocolate zucchini muffins & bread, regular zucchini bread.
The meat comes from a variety of sources including Stillman's Farm, Bob's Turkey Farm, & River Rock Farm.

All this stuff, along with tomorrow's summary of some of the winter markets in my area is what we'll be relying on to make sure a portion of our food throughout the winter is from local sources!

Cranberry-Apple Sauce

Gail and I  also looking into incorporating jam or jelly into our wedding somehow, and I am currently looking for recipes with a certain color, in conjunction with thanksgiving on the horizon, means now is the perfect time to stock up on cranberries and try some new recipes. I've been on the hunt for a good Cranberry Sauce recipe and came across Marisa from Food in Jars awesome recipe for Apple-Cranberry Jam. The only alteration to the recipe was just a little bit of extra cranberries, not much at all though. 

I let it cook down to the consistency of a cranberry sauce instead of a jam and promptly processed it.

Cran-Apple Sauce

The result was a great tasting beautifully burgundy cranberry apple sauce that isn't overly tart or overly sweet. A perfect test batch with enough jars to share with friends and family before thanksgiving!

Making & Storing Horseradish

 The photo on the left shows the biggest or gnarliest pieces of horseradish I pulled from the ground. I tucked away more then enough root stock to replant some fresh in the spring, and have been making batches of horseradish here and there with different meals. It's a ridiculously easy process. If you are use fresh dug horseradish I recommend peeling the larger pieces and rinsing them small ones as best as possible.
Horseradish root is really interesting. If you manage not to pierce the outer skin of the root you will barely notice an aroma. Once you cut, grind, or expose the root it starts to breakdown and the cells release an extremely pungent and flavorful oil we know as horseradish!

diced horseradish ready to be ground

Homemade Horseradish:
3 oz horseradish root. cleaned and diced.
white vinegar I used 2.5 tbls
Place diced horseradish into food processor or mixer & grind and chop until the desired consistency is achieved. Add vinegar to neutralize the smell. The longer you let the ground horseradish sit before adding vinegar the stronger 'horseradish' flavor there will be. For a light flavor add more vinegar right away & for a strong flavor wait 4-6 minutes and add less vinegar.(note: make sure you are in a well ventilated room with a fan going and a window open, as the aroma given off is EXTREMELY strong. Strong enough that, like an idiot, when I disregarded this warning and took a big huge whiff off the lid of the grinder after running it, and resting it for 3 min. I instantaneously let out a huge yell and ran from the room. My sinus' haven't been that clear since my disco days!) Once vinegar added briefly process again. Pour off excess liquid and refrigerate.  The longer the horseradish sits the 'weaker the taste will be. However the 2-3 months at most it will be in the refrigerator shouldn't see much loss of flavor. It's great to mix with a favorite mustard or mayo to give it that extra zing!

result: 1 full jar + some extra

I store the extra horseradish wrapped in some newspaper in the freezer. When I need some I pull it out, peel  and dice what I need and return the rest to the freezer. I also have more then enough 'seed stock' to plant some of my own and pass a few off on others. I planted 5 of those things in a really small space, probably where I should have planted 2 or 3 tops so I got a good mix of big and small pieces. I cut some down to size and set them aside as seed stock after we initially harvested the 4 plants. 1 more is over wintering under straw in the hopes that I can dig some up fresh in April for Passover!
I cannot stress enough the warning that you should be in a very well ventilated room and preferably wearing a mask or dishtowel over your mouth and nose. When I got a big whiff of just the cap I screamed holy fuck that is hot and ran away in real pain. don't be like me, at least cover your mouth and nose with a t-shirt. you will smell the horseradish but it won't be nearly as painful.

Preserving Herbs: Drying & Freezing

Last year I managed to dry some thyme successfully and ruin some chives in an attempt to preserve both. This year the results were far more tangible.

back: dried sage, marjoram, & rosemary.
front: ground sage, mint, &  rosemary in jars

Michael Ruhlman's simple tip to place herbs in a wooden bowl and let the air circulate and dry them, naturally works incredibly well. We've got little buckets of sage, marjoram, rosemary (see above photo) along with jars of dried mint, ground sage, rosemary, and a rosemary/marjoram mix. This also works well with thyme and oregano.

Along with drying herbs we even freeze some. Granted herbs taste MUCH better when they are fresh with over 1.5 lbs of chives harvested this year, there is no way we could eat all them as we picked them. Throughout the season as I would cut chives I would freeze them in individual layers on cookie sheets and then put them in a freezer bag. We also freeze dill, a tip from my mother, which is great for soups and hearty potato dishes and freeze easily.

We keep a jar of 'fresh' pesto in a bit of oil in our fridge, but we also have baggies full of both basil and garlic scape pesto cubes that we freeze and use all year round. They are a great attention to fresh and canned tomato sauces!

What other herb preservation methods do you use?? Add them in the comments section, if I get a good list going, I will post it for posterity.

Hurricane Irene Canning Session!

Gail & I ended up picking the perfect weekend for a massive canning session! While Irene inched up the coast and made landfall we were canning like mad. Here is the final haul after a weekends worth of hard work:

Let me just say: that is A LOT of canning for one weekend - 12 quarts, 8 pints, & 30 half pints!!! A mix of tomato sauce, beet relish, corn relish, and garlic pineapple salsa!!

The tomato sauce is chock full of tomato seconds & onions from our friends at Kimball Fruit Farm, as well as tomatoes, peppers, garlic, basil, and oregano from our garden! We have a simple hand-crank tomato mill to juice the 25lb boxes of tomato seconds we pick up from the market. Once we've gathered a few gallons of juice we cook it down and add onions, diced tomato chunks, garlic, and spices to our preference. When we feel the sauce is the right consistency we jar it and process it! We made 12 quarts and 3 pints of sauce this batch to go with the 11 quarts we've previously made.

The Corn Relish recipe is easy and can be found in the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving and the always wonderful Beet Relish recipe is the same one from last summer because there is no sense is messing with a perfect thing!

Finally, the salsa. I had scanned cookbooks and the internet and went over hundreds of Salsa recipes. Not finding one that was just right I decided to make my own, and the results were great! This is a delicious Pineapple Garlic salsa with oven roasted tomatoes.

Garlic Pineapple Salsa

12-15 big tomatoes, diced

3 onions, diced

15 cloves of garlic, finely diced

6 jalapeno's seeded, diced

6-8 hot peppers seeded, diced

3 cups diced pineapple

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon salt

3/4 teaspoon chili flakes (more if you like it spicier)

3/4 cup cider vinegar

Wash & train tomatoes, Peel, seed, and dice into 1/4 in pieces.

Remove seeds from hot peppers, place in a small bowl. Pour boiling water over hot peppers just to cover, allowing peppers to steep for 10-12 minutes. Drain half the water. Puree hot pepeprs and remaining water in a food processor for 1 minute.

Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until mixture thickens.

Ladle hot salsa into sterilized jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process for 15 minutes in water bath canner.

Like I said the salsa turned out great!! So great that the picture of all the cans on our table is missing a pint jar of salsa because we managed to eat it all in about a day!

With the canning, herb preservation, frozen breads, and other stuff we are ending up with a nice little stock of home preserved foods. Once schedules here calm down a little bit I will have to conduct a tour and tally of all the stuff we are storing!

More Canning: Green Bean & Zucchini Chutney & Dilly Beans

The canning trend continue this past weekend. Gail was away and I had worked nearly 9 hours in the garden so I wanted a canning project that was on the 'easier' side. I had picked up a few pounds of green beans at Thursdays farmers market. A few more simple ingredients and I had all I needed for Green Bean & Zucchini Chutney!

Over the course of an evening I went from:

to a finally product that was cooked over low heat for over 90 minutes! I don't know how the final result will taste because it needs to sit for a month to allow the flavors to mature, but the little bit of leftovers I had were superb:

Green Bean & Zucchini Chutney

Males 3-5 pints

1 1/4 lb green beans, thinly sliced

4 zucchini, thinly sliced

3/4 lb cooking apples, peeled, cored, and chopped.

2 onions finely chopped

2 1/4 cups light brown sugar

1 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp coriander seeds

2 cups cider vinegar

Put the beans, zucchini, apples, and onions in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or pot then add the sugar, mustard powder, turmeric and coriander seeds. Pour in the vinegar and stir.

Cook over low heat, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved, then bring to a boil and cook at a rolling boil, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring from time to time until mixture has thickened. Continuously stir near the end of the cooking time so that the chutney doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Ladle into sterilized mason jars leaving 1/4 in headspace and make sure there are no gaps. Process using water bath canning method for 10 minutes then let cool. Make sure jars are sealed.

Allow flavors to mature for a month. Refrigerate after opening. The recipe yielded 2 pints & 2 1/2 pints

As I said- I don't know how the final product will taste, but there was a little bit leftover that I had the next morning and it was delicious! I can't wait to try it!

We had some green beans leftover when the chutney was done so I also whipped up a pint and 2 1/2 pints of Dilly Beans!

Dilly Beans

2 lbs green beans, trimmed to fit your jars

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more if you really like spicy food!)

4 teaspoons dill

4 cloves of garlic

2 1/2 cups white vinegar

2 1/2 cups of water

1/4 cup pickling salt

mustard seed to taste

Wash and trim beans to make sure they fit in your jars. Combine vinegar, water, and salt in medium saucepan and bring to a boil. While it is heating pack your beans into the jar, adding 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 clove of garlic, a teaspoon of dill, and mustard seed to each jar.

Pour boiling brine over beans. Process for 5 minutes using water bath canning method. Let sit up to 2 weeks for flavors to develop.

Cannin' & Jammin'

It's that time of year for many. With harvests so plentiful people are rushing to preserve some of their favorites to enjoy throughout the year. Making jams, jellies, butters, sauces, preserves, dehydrating, drying herbs, freezing, pickling, the ways to preserve food from our gardens are as seemingly endless. Matched only by all the wonderful combinations many canning & food preservation recipes call for.

This past weekend Gail and I learned a few more lessons on canning while making batches of Cranberry-Jalapeno & Spiced Port + Plum Jams. We ended up with a nice little haul that we look forward to sharing with others, as well as saving some for ourselves:

Above is our final haul after a second attempt at jam making- 4 pints & 4 1/2 pints of Cranberry Jalapeno Jam & 4 pints & 9 1/2 pints of Spiced Port & Plum Jam. Why yes, I did say second attempt. The first attempt proved to be pretty fruitless (ha!). One recipe called for liquid pectin, which I didn't have so I tried to substitute powdered but did a poor job converting. The other recipe did not call for pectin at all, and I think it would have solidified nicely but I do not think I cooked down the original batch enough for it to solidify with the pectin found in the lime juice that was used.

All in all the final result is 2 really delicious jams and some lessons learned.

Lesson 1 - Patience. Let the jam cook slowly and allow it to thicken

Lesson 2 - Try to get the correct ingredients

Lesson 3 - Sterilizing the jars and making 2 batches of jam is fine, but having to go through the entire process twice is a real pain in the ass!

That third lesson is what I will have in mind when I make more jams in the future, but the final products are quite delicious!

Cranberry Jalapeno Jam

1/4 lb of finely diced Jalapenos other Hot Peppers

3/4 lb of Cranberries

1/3 cup lemon juice

5 1/2 cups of sugar

1 1/2 cups of cider vinegar

6 oz liquid pectin

In a food processor grind the peppers and berries with 1/2 cup of cider vinegar. Add remaining cider vinegar and slowly heat. Once starting to bubble add the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Slowly head the mixture until at a rolling boil. Once at a boil, cook for 5 minutes then add pectin and boil an additional 2 minutes.

Ladle into jars leaving 1/4 in. of clearance. Water bath process for 10 minutes. Allow to cool and seal.

This jam is really versatile and can be served mixed with cream cheese as a dip, or with crackers, bagels, tea breads, with roast beef, pork, or chicken.

Makes 6-10 pints

We used a mix of Jalapenos and Wax peppers from our own Garden!! We were also short some cranberries so I added a little bit of huckleberry to make up the difference. Each huckleberry has a ton of seeds so it gives the Jam a nice little 'crunch' without changing the taste.

Spiced Port & Plum Jelly

4lb plums, halved and pitted

2 cups water

1 cinnamon stick, snapped in half (or more if you desire a greater 'spice')

Juice of 1 lime

6 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2-3 tbsp port (or more if you like)

1 packet dry pectin (optional)

Add the plums cinnamon, and lime juice to a heavy bottomed saucepan, then pour over 2 cups of water. Simmer gently over low heat for 20-25 minutes or until plums start to break down and soften. Add the sugar, stirring in slowly until it has all dissolved, then bring to a boil and keep at a rolling boil for 6-8 minutes or until the jam begins to thicken and reach the setting point.

Discard the cinnamon stick, stir in the port, and ladle into jars.

Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes. Allow to cool and seal.

makes 6 pints.

This jam is... great! A nice balance of spice and sweet. I can imagine using it as a topping for ice cream, yet it is equally delicious on a piece of banana or zucchini bread.

Though all of the jam had to be made twice, which was more then a little tiring and frustrating the final product is worth it. Hopefully my friends, family and I will enjoy the fruits of all our labor.

Taking Stock

The Dark Days Challenge starts tomorrow and I am very excited to participate and eager to share my results. In order to help prepare for forthcoming meals and to have a better idea of what local foods we have in our tiny kitchen I've taken stock of our local food items. The results are below the photo of our overstuffed freezer.

Canned:

2 pints Strawberry Jam

3 pints Peach halves in syrup

3.5 pints Peach Butter

4 pints Triple Berry Jam

5 pints Apple Butter

5.5 pints Blueberry Spread

4 quarts Pasta Sauce

Frozen:

1.75 oz Dill

12 oz Mint

2 lbs assorted Pestos & Basil

2.5 lbs sliced bell peppers

6 oz sliced Hungarian hot peppers

2.75 lbs corn

2.5 lbs green beans

4.5 lbs strawberries

1.5 lbs blackberries

1.5 lbs cranberries

18 ounces blueberries

18 ounces raspberries

1.5 lbs cranberries

5 portions Kale & Bean Soup

3 portions Potato/Leek Soup

14 oz thick cut Bacon (Stillman's Farm)

8 oz Bacon (Vermont Smokehouse)

3 lbs assorted sausage (Stillman's Farm)

3 dozen cheddar & leek muffins

5 portions homemade tater tots

Refrigerator:

Local Eggs

Regional Milk

Local Cheese

1 jar bell peppers in oil

1 small jar cranberry butter

1 bunch carrots

1 bunch parsnips

1 bunch radish

5-6 portions of turkey chili

Local Cider

Apples

Pears

Pantry/Storage:

Assorted Winter Squash

1.25 lbs Carrots

4 oz Parsnips

3 Onions

4 shallots

5 heads Garlic

1 bunch radish

8 lbs assorted Potatoes

Regional Flour

Regional Pancake Mix

Below is a photo of the collection of canned goods we have as of this morning, along with the one edible plant I am currently growing. A lovely rosemary plant I purchased at the farmers market 3 weeks ago.

Space is out a premium in our small kitchen so I am really pleased with the great variety of local food products we have to carry us well into winter. We are fortunate that one of my favorite local farms continues their Saturday farmers market until the week before Christmas. With a farm open so late into the year in addition to all we've saved from our garden and local farms as well as Winter Farmers Markets picking up in early January and lasting through late March we now have nearly year round access to local foods!

I am looking forward to meals which focus on local ingredients and challenging myself in the kitchen to incorporate what we have on hand into our meals.

As soon as I have a better idea of the participants in my group I will be sure to share those details. In past Dark Days Challenges the participants and recaps were split into groups by region, however this year some changes have been made and we have been split into various groups. I'll share any details worth sharing as they come in!

What local foods have you put up for the winter? Are they just from your garden or from local farms as well?

Dill Pickles & Beet Relish

With an abundance of pickling cucumbers and beets showing up at our local farms/markets Gail and I decided to take advantage. On Saturday afternoon we made 8 quarts of Dill pickles and 2.5 pints of Beet relish.

For the sake of variety we made 3 quarts of whole pickles, 3 quarts of pickle spears, and 2 quarts of pickle 'chips'
Dill Pickles
8 pounds 3-4 in long pickling cucumbers
4 cups white vinegar
12 cups water
2/3 cup pickling salt
16 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
8 sprigs fresh dill
8 heads fresh dill
Preparation:
1. Wash cucumbers and place in receptacle with cold water and lots of ice. Soak in ice water bath for at least 2 hours but no more then 8 hours. Add more ice as necessary. While soaking cucumbers sterilize 8 quart size canning jars and lids.
2. In a large pot over medium-high heat, combine the vinegar, water, and pickling salt. Bring the bring to a rapid boil.
3. In each jar, place 2 half cloves of garlic, one head of dill, and enough cucumbers to fill the jar. Then add 2 more half cloves of garlic and a sprig of dill to the top of each jar. Fill the jars with hot brine and seal the jars.
4. I found many conflicting ways to process the sealed jars in a hot water bath to make sure the seal. I processed them upside down in a sauce pan so that only the lids were covered with boiling water for 10 minutes. 6 of 8 jars sealed this way.
5. If jars have sealed store pickles for 8 weeks in a cool dry place before eating. Refrigerate after opening. Any jars that have not sealed can be kept in the refrigerator. Pickles will keep for up to 2 years if stored in a cool dry place.
We added mustard seed and/or red pepper flakes to some of the jars. We used Dill from our garden, while the cucumbers came from Keown Orchards and the garlic is from Red Fire Farm both by way of our local farmers market.
The real difficulty is having to wait 8 weeks to eat them! We decided we couldn't wait so last night we opened one of the jars of spears just to give them a taste. After a few days the pickles were crisp and tasted good, but certainly needed more time.



Some of the extra Beet relish was eaten the next day in a sandwich.
Beet Relish
3 lbs raw beets
1 tsp superfine sugar
1 lb shallots, finely chopped
2 cups cider or white wine vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
1 tbsp pickling spices, place in a cheesecloth or spice bag
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
Preparation:
1. Place the beets in a large saucepan. Pour over enough water to cover them, and add the superfine sugar (I used plain granulated sugar as it would be dissolving so to me it doesn't matter). Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour or until the beets are soft and cooked. Drain and leave to cool. When cool enough to handle peel and dice the beets into small, even pieces.
2. Put the shallots and vinegar in a pan and cook for 10 minutes over low heat. Add the chopped beets and the bag of pickling spices. Stir the mixture, add the granulated sugar, and cook gently until the sugar has all dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook at a rolling boil for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 40 minutes or until the mixture thickens.
3. Remove the spice bag, then ladle into sterilized mason jars, leaving 1/4in (5 mm) head space and making sure there are no air gaps. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Remove jars and let cool. Store in a cool, dark place. Allow the flavors to mature for 1 month and refrigerate after opening.
Relish should keep for up to 9 months.
We were expecting 4 jars of relish but ended up with 5 so we decided to set 4 aside to mature for a month as the recipe calls for and enjoy one right away. Gail enjoyed some on a veggie burger and I've had it with chicken salad in a sandwich. We used 5 of our own golf ball sized beets, the rest of the beets as well as all the shallots came from Allandale Farm.


Pickle recipe can be found at AllRecipes.com & the Beet Relish recipe is from Preserve It! which is a very visual excellent introductory cookbook to food preservation full of great tips and recipes for novice canners and preservers covering everything from fruits and vegetables to herbs, fish, and meats.

Garlic Scape Pesto!

On Tuesday I picked up half a pound of garlic scapes at the farmers market:

A scape is the flowering stem which rises from the roots or crown of a plant. A garlic scape has a mild garlic flavor without the bite of too much garlic (to me there is no such thing). My impetus for getting the scapes was pesto. Garlic scape pesto is a great alternative to traditional basil pestos. Pesto freezes extremely well so I decided to make a larger quantity for storage purposes.

Ingredients:

1 cup of garlic scapes, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces (approx. 1/4 lb)

1/3 of a cup of slightly crushed walnuts

3/4 of a cup of olive oil (a little less is perfectly fine)

1/2 cup of cubed or grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt (I prefer kosher salt)

a pinch of black pepper

First the scapes are cut into appropriate sized pieces and place them into the bowl of a food processor:

Next add the walnuts, cheese, salt, and pepper to the bowl:

Blend the ingredients until they are well combined:

Slowly add about half the oil and blend again. Repeat this process with remaining oil blending until desired texture is reached:

This yields about 6 ounces of garlicky delicious pesto. A serving is anywhere between 1 and 2 tablespoons depending on preference.

With my 1/2 lb of scapes I ended up with 2 batches of scape pesto in need of a home. I spooned them into a mini ice cube tray and froze them:

Each cube is 1.5 to 2 teaspoons worth of pesto:

Each batch yields about 36 delicious cubes. One serving is between 3 and 5 cubes depending on preference.

Now we have enough garlic pesto for the foreseeable future. It goes great with tofu, chicken, pasta (hot or cold) omelette's, pizza.