Harvest

When thinning or harvesting your carrots, don’t throw away the tops!

Get the skinny on how to thin your carrots here.

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Clean

Spray and scrub your carrots outside to get rid of the worst of the dirt and mud.

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Then bring in the house and finish cleaning them in the sink. You don’t want any stray bugs or dirt to contaminate your pesto.

Make a nice white sauce with fresh garden dill to serve over the steamed carrots. Check out my 5 minute cream reduction recipe here.

Cleaned carrot tops — I wait to thin my carrots until they are of a good size to eat. Why waste perfectly good carrots!

Trim

Cut the carrot tops down and remove the larger, thick stems.

Dry

Spin the tops dry in a salad spinner or blot well with a towel. If you are blanching, you can skip this step since they will get wet again.

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Blanch

Blanching allows you to freeze the pesto afterwards. If you plan on eating it all up fresh, then you can skip this step. The pesto will have a stronger flavour because the carrot tops taste milder when cooked. Blanch the tops for 45 seconds. Garlic scapes take two minutes. Blanch any added herbs as well. The onions are fine without blanching, same with garlic cloves. Blanch until they are bright green and soft looking. Read this post on How to Blanch Vegetables.

Blend

Use a food processor or blender to mix the ingredients, adding the oil a tablespoon at a time.

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Eat

Serve with your carrot top pesto with cream cheese or plain on a cracker, mix into your pasta, bake on chicken. Enjoy!

Carrot Top Pesto

An easy to make, mild pesto with a hint of garlic

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 2

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Canadian

Equipment

Pot for blanching
Food processor or blender

Ingredients

1 cup blanched carrot tops blanch
2 garlic scapes chopped or cloves of garlic blanch scapes
1/4 cup green onions
1 tsp lemon zest
2 tbsp lemon juice half a fresh lemon squeezed
1/2 cup nuts walnuts, pecans, almonds
3 tbsp olive oil may need more or less

Instructions

Blanch carrot tops 45 seconds – squeeze dry
Blanch garlic scapes 2 minutes
Add all ingredients up to oil, plus 1 tbsp of oil to food processor or blender, and pulse, adding oil as needed to make a paste.

Notes

Blanch the vegetables so you can freeze the leftovers.

Serve with crackers and cream cheese, stir into pasta, cook with chicken.

This is an extremely flexible recipe. Add whatever herbs and seasonings you like to try a different flavour. Add basil or mint. Use more or less garlic or lemon juice, depending on your preference.

Keyword Carrot Tops, Garlic Scapes, Pesto

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