A few weeks ago I made the Crisp Polenta Cake with Spicy Greens from Joyce Goldstein’s Antipasti. I was really disappointed with the results, the greens weren’t particularly delicious and the texture of the polenta was a bit difficult to swallow. The recipe is meant to serve 8-12 people (and I halved it), but the two of us finished off all the greens and had tons of the polenta cake leftover

The next day I dug around in the fridge and came up with some left over garlic scape pesto and a wedge of Parmesan. The oils from the pesto seeped into the top layer of the polenta, and the second baking made the polenta just that much crisper. Topped with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan, the leftovers were much easier to swallow.

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One of the best, short lived, farmers market finds, garlic scapes are the flowering stem of the garlic plant & are removed to promote bulb growth. Garlic scapes can be used in place of scallions in almost any recipe, but I prefer to serve them steamed whole with shaved parmesan and toasted pine nuts in a sort of deconstructed pesto. No recipe required for this one, simply steam the scapes until tender allowing 4-6 per person.

Of course you can also make pesto with them, but I wait until the last batch of the season is beginning to go soft on me before doing that. I use this recipe from VeganYumYum and freeze most of it in an ice-cube tray for use throughout the year. The pesto ice-cubes are great for throwing together quick sauces like this one:

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