Carrot Top Pesto

This recipe is special to me as it uses a part of the carrot often discarded.Typically, in our home, the scraps go into what we call the 'stock compost’ bucket - once the bucket is full they all jump into a stockpot with water and simmer into a delicious and nutritious stock. Here, we use the carrot tops to make a tasty alternative to the typical basil and pine nut laden pesto. These are tasty with sliced fresh veggies, crackers, or as a sandwich spread.

The nutritional information is a bit hard to find, but I'm thinking it should be loaded Vitamins A, C,and K as well as iron.

Ingredients and Directions

Serves 16, 1 Tablespoon servings

You can use a food processor or an immersion blender for this pesto. I find the immersion blender using a quart jar as your blending work bowl works best for smaller batches. AND you can use the jar for final storage (minimal cleanup). Walnuts or hazelnuts are a delicious alternative to pistachios.

Ingredients

1 bunch carrots top greens, about 4 ounces

1/2 cups pistachios

2 garlic cloves (about 1 teaspoon)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 to 4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)

1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil

Directions

1. Soak Pistachios 5 minutes in hot water, or overnight. Rinse and drain the pistachios.

2. Separate green tops from the carrots. Rinse tops completely to remove all soil and other debris. Shake to remove excess water then remove the tiny carrot top 'leaves' and tender stems. Add to your work bowl.

3. Slice the garlic cloves; add to bowl with carrot tops.

4. Add pistachios, sea salt, lemon juice, and optional nutritional yeast in with the carrot tops.

5. Start processing all the ingredients until find and similar textures. Drizzle in the olive oil a bit at a time while processing until you have a creamy blended texture. The amount of oil and/or lemon juice will vary depending on the carrot tops.

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