Carrot Top Pesto

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The bright, green frond tops of carrots are more than a fancy carrying handle after purchase at the farmers market. I created this recipe after I was gifted a bunch of dirt covered, freshly garden carrots. The carrots themselves were quite tiny, but still filled with flavor. The carrot top greens were a different story; full, lush and begging to be re-imagined into their own unique dish. This carrot top pesto is filled with walnuts, cheese, garlic and added grated carrots. Carrots greens have an almost parsley like flavor, which lends themselves perfectly to the walnuts and parmesan cheese in this zero waste; root to stem recipe. Carrot season in the Hudson Valley lasts for several months, the carrots used in this recipe were harvested in Stone Ridge, NY in the beginning of July. If you have a freshly dug carrot harvest and need a quick recipe to use up a bunch of carrot greens, try this simple recipe and serve over hot pasta.

Choose the Right Greens

Whether you are harvesting from a garden bed or buying your carrots with greens attached, make sure to look for the carrot greens with the brightest, freshed fronds possible. Firm upright carrot tops are ideal for this recipe. The carrot harvest pictured above was mostly carrot greens with small carrot vegetables attached, the perfect bunch for this carrot green pesto recipe.

Before you get going on the below condiment recipe; go over the carrots tops and remove any browned or wilted stems.

I used just the leafy carrot tops, not the sturdier stalks that connect directly to the actual carrot root (vegetable).

Ingredients

This ingredients for this recipe are simple pantry staples. This recipe used the whole carrot; greens to stem and is an easy way to use the zero waste method in your kitchen. The rest of the recipe is created using walnuts, olive oil and garlic, and cheese. I kept the ingredient list simple, so the central ingredient, carrot greens could really shine.

Carrot Greens Pesto Uses

This root to stem pesto filled with both carrot tops and grated carrot root, can be used in many dishes. I prefer to use this zero – waste condiment stirred into pasta. This carrot greens pesto can also be used in other dishes:

• Spread over toasted bread for a quick, herbaceous garlic bread variation. Spread it generously on thick toasted bread and it becomes a meal in itself – not unlike this creamy morel mushroom toast in spirit if not in ingredients
• Spoon over grilled salmon for a bright, healthy meal.
• Put a dollop over breakfast eggs for a bright start to the day.

If you love a good pesto pasta, this farfalle with pea shoot pesto and roasted radish is another seasonal pesto worth keeping in your rotation.

Root to Stem Cooking

Garden fresh vegetables are in abundance in the Hudson Valley spring thru late fall. Most produce is harvested straight from fields and sold in farmers markets, farm stands or CSA’s. This recipe uses the whole vegetable root to stem, and is an easy way to use the whole carrot in a tasty, healthy dish.

The same zero waste spirit applies to foraging – this knotweed fruit leather turns one of the most invasive plants in the northeast into something genuinely delicious.

Zero – waste cooking is a great way to use the whole vegetable, without letting the greens go to waste. Think about beet greens and how many times the leafy tops are discarded, with only the beet root bottoms being used in cooking.

Carrot tops have been ending up in compost bins and trash cans for long enough. They are perfectly good, perfectly usable and – as it turns out — perfectly delicious when you know what to do with them. This pesto is the proof.

Make a batch the next time you bring carrots home from the farmers market and see what you think. Toss it through pasta, spread it on bread, spoon it over whatever needs a little something. Leave a comment below and let me know how you used it – I’m always curious what people do with a good pesto.

And if this has you in a pesto making mood, this wild ramp pesto with anchovy and pistachio is another deeply savory spring pesto worth making while ramps are in season.