Garlic Scape Pesto Knots

I fell in love with the smell of warm, puffy garlic knots,
smothered in garlic scape pesto.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to make bread. It feels so good to have counter space and healthy hands to knead and work the dough. There’s nothing quite like the smell of yeasty baked bread, wafting out of the oven and filling my entire apartment. The smell of garlic lulls me into a happy daze, as I eagerly wait in front of my oven, watching my little dough babies rise and turn golden before my eyes.

As my little dough babies bake up, I start making the garlic scape pesto. I had heard of garlic scapes before and I knew they were delicious, but I had no idea how lovely they’d be, smothered over garlic knots. The mild, garlicky flavour wrapped up in an olive oil embrace is perfect for topping my golden dough babies. A handful of nuts, a dash of nutritional yeast and a healthy pinch of salt brings the olive oil and garlic scapes into a bright and complex pesto. Add it to pastas, add it to salads. But I wouldn’t dream of a better vessel then atop freshly baked bread.

When my timer dings, I dig up my well-loved and well-used mismatched oven mitts. Pulling out the tray, I inhale the garlic-scented knots as I walk them to my cooling rack by the window. I slather on the pesto, massaging the paste into the voluptuous curves, the warmth of the freshly baked knots sends more waves of garlic into the air.

I tenderly bite into one, the slightly crisp outside gives way to soft, chewy goodness inside. The pesto piques my tongue as it marries into the knots, and before I know it I’m eating a second, and then a third. I’m in carb-heaven, and I don’t wanna come back down to Earth where I remember Scott Pilgrim’s incredulous reaction when Ramona Flowers tells him that “bread makes you fat“.

This is my second recipe for Produce Made Simple this week. I’ve loved featuring and experimenting with these micro-seasonal veggies. Zucchini flowers are a new addiction of mine—I can’t seem to get enough. And garlic scapes have found their way into many of my dishes where I’d typically use another aromatic like onion or garlic. Check out my recipe live on the site now and forever, and I hope you check out the articles on the site for tips to select, store, and prepare produce, as well as nutritional info, tips, and flavour pairings.