Carrot Top Pesto Having planted carrots on the balcony, I had harvested these sweet little crooked carrots due to the very hard soil but with beautiful and lush tops. While munching on these tender roots, I thought what can I do with these beautiful tops? I discovered that carrot tops can be used in various recipes and you can make a great pesto with them.
So I decided to try and with just a few ingredients like oil, garlic, Parmesan, and pine nuts I made carrot top pesto!
We enjoyed the pesto with pasta but also tried it on breadsticks and crackers and it was really loved. The flavor is sweet yet decisive, ideal for being used as a base for meat dishes like grilled steak, which laid on a bed of pesto is truly exquisite.
Making the pesto is really simple and quick, especially if like me you use an electric blender, although traditionally the ingredients should be crushed by hand. We only use the leafy part because the stems might be too tough, so rinse our tops well under running water and gather about 1.5 to 2 oz of leaves to make pesto suitable for dressing pasta for about 4 people.
Here are other recipes you can use to dress your first courses or fill great appetizers
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1.5 to 2 oz carrot tops (only the leaves)
- 0.42 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 oz pine nuts
- 0.7 oz Parmesan (Grated)
- 1 clove garlic
Tools
- 1 Chopper
Preparation
Wash the carrot tops thoroughly under fresh water and cut only the leafy part because the stems might be too hard. Gather about 1.5 to 2 oz of leaves and prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Traditionally, the pesto would be prepared by hand, pounding the ingredients in a mortar, but as you see in the photo, I used a chopper.
Put the carrot leaves in the chopper, add the rest of the ingredients, salt, garlic, oil, pine nuts, and Parmesan, and blend for about a minute, maybe even in pulses to mix everything evenly.
Your pesto is ready to be consumed. You can use it to dress pasta, prepare delicious appetizers, as a base for grilled meat, but I guarantee it also goes well with baked sea bream and bass.
NOTES
If the pesto you made isn’t consumed immediately, you can store it in glass jars for about 3 days in the refrigerator, or you can freeze it and use it when needed, perhaps in winter when finding fresh carrots with tops is difficult.
If you liked the recipe or have questions, feel free to comment here or on social media Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and X.
