Garlic Scape Pesto Sweet Corn
Place the garlic scapes, spinach, basil, macadamia nuts, and Parmesan in a food processor and pulse until ground together. Season with salt and pepper, then pour in the olive oil with the machine running to make a paste. Boil the corn in covered water over high heat until tender, drain, and add several spoonsful of the pesto to the pan. Cover and swirl so the hot corn melts the pesto and coats the kernels, then serve with extra salt, pepper, and Parmesan.
For a few weeks each summer, two of the season's best things overlap: the first sweet corn and the last of the garlic scapes, those curling green shoots with a gentle, garlicky sweetness. This dish marries them. A bright pesto of scapes, spinach, basil, and buttery macadamia nuts wraps around hot corn kernels, melting into them, in a side that tastes unmistakably of high summer at its most generous.
The Garlic Scape & Macadamia Pesto
The pesto is a fresh twist on the classic. Garlic scapes stand in for raw garlic, offering the same aromatic backbone with a softer, sweeter edge, while buttery macadamia nuts replace the usual pine nuts for a richer, silkier texture. Spinach and basil give it its vivid green and herbal lift. Pulsed coarse and then blended with a slow stream of olive oil, it becomes a thick, bright paste — and it keeps for a week, ready for far more than corn.
The Residual-Heat Toss
The finish is almost too easy. Boil the corn until tender and bright, drain the pot completely, and spoon the pesto right in over the hot ears. Clap on the lid and swirl the pot vigorously — the trapped heat from the corn melts the pesto and coats every kernel evenly, no additional cooking required. That gentle, indirect warmth is the whole trick: it releases the pesto's aroma without cooking off its fresh, raw brightness.
Garlic Scape Pesto Sweet Corn
Ingredients
Method
- Place the garlic scapes, spinach leaves, basil leaves (no need to chop any of these, just dump them right in), macadamia nuts, and Parmesan cheese into the bowl of a food processor.
- Pulse several times until all the ingredients are ground together.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- With the machine running, slowly pour in the olive oil to make a paste.
- (You can store the pesto in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.)
- Place the corn into a pan and cover with water.
- Bring the water to a boil over high heat and cook until the corn is tender, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Drain the water from the pan.
- Place several spoonsful of the pesto into the pan with the corn.
- Cover with the lid and swirl the pan so that the hot corn melts the pesto and all the kernels are generously coated.
- Serve the corn with additional salt and pepper and another sprinkle of Parmesan cheese!
The Heart of the Table
There's a fleeting generosity to cooking with what's ripe right now — catching sweet corn and garlic scapes at the exact moment they overlap and putting them on the table together. This is the kind of dish that belongs to an alfresco summer dinner, passed hand to hand as the light goes long and gold, a small celebration of the season's brief, perfect abundance.
The Art of the Host
A food processor makes the pesto in seconds, and a large, deep pot with a tight lid is the second essential — it's what lets you toss the hot corn and pesto together with a swirl rather than dirtying another bowl. Boil the corn just until bright and tender; overcooked corn turns tough and starchy and loses the sweetness that makes this dish sing.
Neighborly Grace
- The Preparation: Toss just-boiled sweet corn with the garlic-scape-macadamia pesto in a covered pot — the corn's residual heat melts the pesto and coats every kernel with no extra cooking. Make the pesto ahead and toss at the last minute.
- The Pour: A crisp white like Vermentino or a chilled rosé suits the sweet corn and herby pesto. For a non-alcoholic option, a basil lemonade or a sparkling white grape keeps it summery.
- The Vibe: This is a vibrant ten-minute summer side — bright green and gold, it turns two peak-season ingredients into something that lights up a cookout table.