Carrot-top Pesto

Hungry Gnome's Alicia casually mentioned to me that I could make carrot top pesto in presto time. I said, "really, I can eat carrot tops?" So there goes my compost pile again, less carrot tops. I went home, cut off all of the green and fresh carrot tops and rinsed them well, then I made a quick and simple pesto. Here is my recipe for Carrot-top pesto:

A bunch of carrot tops rinsed
a handful of fresh oregano from my garden
a handful of mint from the Turnip Truck
a couple cloves of garlic
olive oil
fresh peanut butter (ground peanuts from the Whole Foods)
freshly grated Romano cheese
crushed red chili pepper to taste
a couple dots of honey optional if too bitter

In a food processor or blender, add carrot tops, garlic, crushed red chili peppers and olive oil. Toss in a pan until heated and fragrant. Remove from heat, stir in fresh oregano, mint, cheese and crushed peanuts. Pinenuts, almonds, cashews etc would work, but I am a lazy cook, so the pre-crushed peanuts were way too easy and a no brainer. If it is too bitter, add a couple drops of honey. Toss on pasta, or freeze until ready to use.

I was so excited to try it, and I made it for a potluck I went to. I had people guess what was in it, and everyone was surprised that there were carrot tops. The mistake I made was to add salt to the pesto before I added the cheese. The cheese is quite salty enough, so my taste testers had a bit of a shock of sodium. Note to self, when working with Romano, go easy on the salt!

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