Our good friend, Rob, hosted a reunion of sorts for eight of us at his house in East Hampton last weekend. It was filled with early morning surf sessions, tennis matches, midday naps, late afternoon world cup viewings and late night dinners.
On Saturday morning, Gemma offered me the amazing opportunity to pick vegetables with her at a farm called Quail Hill. I must’ve been the happiest human on the planet that day as the dirt filled my fingernails. I found myself surrounded by snap peas, fava beans, string beans, snow peas, english peas, garlic scapes, summer squash, zucchini flowers, radishes and many types of lettuce. Raspberries were on the cusp of ripeness, too.
On the way home we stopped and a fish market to round out the meal. It was such a treat to cook for a crowd and with the exception of lemons, olive oil and sea salt, we used only local, seasonal ingredients from the day. Rob even had an herb garden from which I nipped basil, mint, lavender, sage and dill to finish off the salad and the grilled fish. I’m including the recipe for the pesto we made with the basket of garlic scapes that we plucked from the farm.
Grilled Garlic Scape Pesto
A handful of garlic scapes (about 10)
1 cup of olive oil (some for coating the scapes before grilling)
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons sea salt
Toss the scapes in olive oil to coat and place on a hot grill. Grill until browned but not charred and remove from heat. (Alternatively, you can broil the scapes)
Chop and place in a food processor with toasted pine nuts and pulse. Drizzle in the olive oil and add water if necessary to desired texture. Season with sea salt.