I love pesto. It's a basil-based "sauce" that goes well with many dishes. I eat it in my pasta, on my sandwiches, as an aperitif... When you've run out of pesto and no basil to hand, there's an alternative. Make a pesto with carrot tops. It's very tasty and, what's more, it allows you to reuse the tops that would probably have ended up in the garbage can.
In my house, we often eat carrots. For a long time, I only bought carrots without tops - you know, the long green stalks at the end of the vegetable - because I didn't know what to do with them. This went against my habit of avoiding waste as much as possible and not throwing food away.
I discovered that you could make pesto with carrot tops! My taste for anti-waste and my love of pesto were about to merge to make a great carrot tops pesto. I tried it out when I bought my last carrots and was won over.
You can't expect the exact taste of traditional pesto, but you'll find the same texture and flavors. Except for the basil. Mix it with ravioli and a little cheese and you'll be telling me all about it.
Je travaille en ce moment sur une recette pour utiliser les pelures des carottes afin d’en faire des chips. Comme cela, je serai capable d’utiliser 100 % des carottes que j’achète. Ou peut-être qu’il faudrait que je commence à manger les carottes sans les éplucher. À voir.
Carrot tops pesto
- Total Time: 10
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A good pesto of carrot tops, perfect to accompany a pasta dish with a little cheese.
Ingredients
70-80 gr carrot tops (about one bunch)
50 gr whole almonds or pine nuts
50 gr Parmesan cheese
juice of ½ lemon
1 2 cloves garlic
100 gr olive oil
pepper
Instructions
- Rinse the carrot tops in water, remove the stalks and chop coarsely.
- Place the carrot tops, coarsely chopped garlic cloves, Parmesan, lemon juice and pine nuts (or almonds) in your blender.
- Season with pepper and add about a third of the olive oil (about 30 g).
- Blend until puréed.
- Continue blending while slowly pouring in the remaining olive oil. Stop blending when you've reached the desired texture, either puree or liquidize.
- Pour the pesto into a jar.
- Close the jar and set aside in the fridge.
Notes
You can toast the nuts in the oven for extra flavor.
This pesto keeps for up to 2 weeks in the fridge and up to 2 months in the freezer.
- Prep Time: 10
- Category: Sauce
- Cooking: Italian