Veg Scrap Pesto: Carrot Top, Orange, Peanut
This variation on classic pesto is an easy way to use up ingredients in the fridge like carrot tops, beet leaves or fennel fronds. From chermoula to salsa verde or chimichurri, herbs blitzed with nuts, citrus and olive oil appear across world cuisines as a bright, bold mouthful and play versatile roles as a dressing, spread, marinade, dip, or topping for meats. Pesto with basil and pine nuts is the Italian classic, but you don’t have to stick to herbs. Look in your fridge and use carrot tops, beet greens, scallions, jalapeno, vinegar, mustard.
Ingredients
Ingredients
| 2 cups carrot tops |
| 1/2 cup peanuts or walnuts |
| 1 sprig sage, stem removed |
| 1/2 cup olive oil |
| 1 clove or shallot (optional) garlic |
| 1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice |
| 1/2 zest orange |
| 1 pinch salt |
Veg Scrap Pesto: Carrot Top, Orange, Peanut Directions
Lightly rinse your greens, if needed. Combine carrot tops, nuts, sage, and garlic in a blender and lightly pulse to blitz. Slowly drizzle in the oil and orange juice and continue to blitz until smooth. Sprinkle in the orange zest and salt, a little at a time, to taste, and give a final blitz to mix well.
Recipe notes
If you don’t have a blender or processor, you can also finely chop the ingredients and mash to a paste in a mortar and pestle or even with the back of a spoon in a bowl. Add the oil to create a wetter mixture and continue mashing until smooth. Store in a jar in the refrigerator To freeze: If you plan to freeze pesto, first plunge leaves/herbs into boiling water (5-10 seconds) and then into an ice bath before blitzing. This will keep the color green and vibrant. Freeze in ice cube trays.
