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.
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.