Arugula and Garlic Scape Pesto (and Potato Salad #2)

This pesto is wonderful on potatoes or pasta.  I was supposed to wait for my own homegrown potatoes to add to my potato salad plans for the summer but this pesto was too perfect to wait. 

For the potato salad, I parboiled baby potatoes then "smashed" them with the back of a wooden spoon to split them open a bit.  Roast them with some olive oil on high heat until crisp.  Toss the potatoes with spoons full of pesto until well coated.  Delicious while still hot, but I also love it at room temperature.

And the pesto is also delicious in its more common use: tossed with pasta (shown here with both sundried and fresh tomatoes).

This makes a lot ... it freezes very well, either in baggies for individual servings or larger amounts in jars.  I made one batch earlier this week.  Then I harvested a boatload of arugula and made a triple batch today.

Ingredients:
1 cup walnuts, toasted
1 cup chopped garlic scapes

8 cups packed arugula

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2-3 Tbsp lemon juice

optional 1/2 cup parmesan

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Process toasted walnuts and garlic scapes until smooth, adding a bit of olive oil as needed.  Add arugula in handfuls and continue to process until smooth while adding more olive oil and lemon juice. 

Season to taste with kosher salt and black pepper.

I don't use the cheese in the recipe when I am going to freeze it.   I add the cheese when I cook with it afterwards (definitely with the pasta).  And I don't use cheese at all when adding to potatoes.