Our life living off the land in our log cabin, breathing fresh mountain air, and getting back to basics.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Carrot Greens Pesto

Yesterday, after canning our beets and carrots I was left with the beautiful greens...
 ...and I couldn't bring myself to put them into the compost bin...you know what they say, waste not, want not!  They can be eaten raw in a salad and are quite tasty, but I had so much that I decided to make pesto. 

Carrot Greens Pesto

Ingredients:

1 cup carrot leaves, stems removed
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large garlic clove
juice of 1/4 lemon
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 tbsp toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
(this will make about 1 cup of pesto; I quadrupled the recipe because I had so many greens)

Directions:




Toast the pine nuts in a pan over medium heat, just until they start to brown.


Combine the carrot leaves, salt and garlic in a food processor, pulse to chop.

Add the rest of the dry ingredients and pulse until everything is combined.  Set the food processor on mince, and slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixture until smooth.

I decided to make beet greens pesto as well...same ingredients but with the beet greens.

The carrot greens pesto is a beautiful bright green, the beet greens pesto a little darker.  I sterilized the containers and am freezing the pesto until we want to use it....can't wait to put this on some pasta...or make crostini... 

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

6 comments:

Dad/Pepere said...

More scrumptious food for Thanksgiving! Hugs!

Osage Bluff Quilter said...

Believe it or not, but I've never had pesto !

Vicki Lane said...

What a good idea! I make a lot of basil/parsley pesto but I ever thought of something like this.

Glenda Beall said...

Lise, your photos are mouth-watering. How impressive, to use the tops of carrots and beets in such a way. I look forward to hearing how they taste.

Susie Swanson said...

Wow, I've never heard of this. Looks so delicious. Hope you're enjoying this rainy Saturday.

Lise said...

Dad, pesto is definitely going to be present at Thanksgiving! Hugs back:)

Wow Patti, I guess y'all'l have to come for dinner my friend! You will like it!

Thanks Vicki, I love basil pesto, so why not any other greens? Better than composting that good stuff:)

Glenda, I think you would like it!

Thanks Susie, enjoy your weekend as well!

To all of you in the Western NC area, maybe we can share some of my homemade pesto some day...perhaps a gathering is in order:)