Carrot Top Pesto

Carrot top pesto is a delicious way to use the whole carrot – to love the whole vegetable, not just the parts we are comfortable with. I made this recipe for Pride month, in the hopes it sparks some conversations with the people you love. It’s a delicious and versatile recipe.

This recipe can be used for any kind of pesto, but it's design to work with root vegetables you typically only use the bottoms of: carrots, beets, turnips, and radishes. It's extremely delicious, easy, and a good conversation starter. You can serve the carrot top pesto on roasted carrots (the same goes for beets, turnips, and radishes). Pesto also makes a great dip, sauce, or spread.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch of carrots top, thoroughly washed

• 1/2 cup of toasted nuts, such as almonds

• 1 cup of leafy greens, such as frozen spinach

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 150 grams Parmesan cheese

• 5 grams (1-1/2 teaspoons) salt

• 2 cloves of garlic

Method

Wash the carrot tops by soaking in a large bowl of clean water several times. Since carrot tops have many fine leaves and grow directly over dirt, they can have quite a bit of hidden dirt. Clean them well.

Put everything into a food processor and run until smooth.

Adjust the texture with additional olive oil or water as needed.

This will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days and can be frozen. Use anywhere you would use pesto, such as on pizza or pasta.

Recipe notes:

• Other edible tops include beets, turnips, and radishes – the leafy greens are fully edible and make great pesto.

• You can swap the nuts with any toasted nut – pistachios, macadamia nuts, walnuts, pine nuts are all good ideas.

• You can swap the spinach with any leafy green or tender herb, such as kale, arugula, basil, etc.

Recently I made a variation with beet tops, pistachios, and basil which was quite delicious.