Roasted Carrots W/Carrot Top Pesto

 I was inspired to make this recipe after going to the farmer's market and buying some amazing carrots with beautiful green tops.  I bought 3 bundles of carrots because I knew I was going to roast some and pickle the others.  After I had paid for them, the man at the farmer's market stall asked me if I wanted him to remove the greens.  I said something along the lines of, "that's okay.  Thank you though!" But what I thought was, "back away from my beautiful greens.  I just paid for them, they are mine and I'm going to use them."  Now, I knew that you could use the carrot tops for cooking, but I'd never done it before.  After a quick Google search I found that you can make pesto out of the tops.  That's when I knew I was going to roast carrots and top them with a carrot top pesto.  

As I was separating the carrot greens from the stems, it amazed me how much the greens smelled like carrots.  One of my September intentions was to be more aware of how I'm affecting the world around me and one of the ways I'm doing that is being aware of my food waste.  There are so many things that are edible that we throw away because we aren't used to eating them - the carrot greens, the green tops to leeks, etc.  I'm on a mission to limit my food waste and learn to use these unusual ingredients in my cooking.  This recipe is just one of the ways I'm doing that.  And to be honest, it turned out better than I had anticipated and was incredibly easy!

Total Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 4 (3 carrots per serving)

Ingredients:

12 medium carrots with greens

2 tbs Avocado Oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

For the Pesto:

2 cups carrot greens, stems removed

2 garlic cloves

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tbs red wine vinegar

Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 425° F.
2. Toss the carrots in avocado oil and salt & pepper.
3. Roast for 25 minutes, turning half way through.
4. While the carrots are roasting, add the pesto ingredients to a food processor and pulse until incorporated.
5. Remove the carrots from the oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes before topping with pesto and serving.