Tostadas with Carrot Top Pesto & Roasted Carrots By: Mackenzie Smith

I went whole hog on a bunch of carrots this week. Roasted the carrots at 400F with salt and olive oil until fork tender and crispy on the skin (15-20 minutes), while I made pesto from the carrot top greens with dill, cilantro, spring onion, lemon, pecans and pepitas.

The best way to take advantage of the overlooked greens at the ends of some root vegetables is to make them into a pesto as soon as you get home from the market. I find that if I get straight to chopping as soon as I walk in the door, I am much more likely to actually use the tops of a bunch of  carrots or the greens from a radish to make into a pesto vs. letting them get too sad to be appetizing in the refrigerator. The greens are as fresh as they’ll ever be, and blitzing in a food processor with nuts and seeds, salt, herbs, and something sour preserve that freshness really well for a few days. Not a classic pesto by any means, but a really delicious way to enjoy everything the humble carrot has to offer.

I shared a recipe for carrot top pesto with dill on the JBG blog back in 2017, but each batch changes based on what we have in our kitchen. Use either recipe for carrot top pesto as a loose guide and add put it on everything!

For lunch today, we each had a tostada with carrot-top pesto and sliced roasted carrots with cilantro, green onion and chili flakes. Then we both had one more. Bon Appetit!

Carrot-top Pesto

Makes about 1 cup and a half of pesto

⅓ to ½ cup olive oil

1 bunch carrot tops

1 handful cilantro, roughly chopped

4-5 tablespoons dill, roughly chopped

⅓ cup pecans

⅓ cup pepitas

Juice of one lemon, and zest of half of it

3 spring onions, ends removed and roughly chopped

Salt to taste (start with at least one teaspoon and add more as necessary)

Pulse everything in a food processor, adding more olive oil as you need to. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.