From Volume iii · The Zero-Waste Kitchen

Carrot Top Pesto

Name: Carrot Top Pesto
Prep time: 8 min
Cook time: 2 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 4 servings (about 200 ml)
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 60 g carrot tops; 30 g hard cheese, finely grated; 30 g almonds, walnuts, or pine nuts; 1 small garlic clove; Juice of half a lemon; 100 ml extra virgin olive oil; Sea salt and black pepper to taste

The feathery green tops most people bin make a punchier, more interesting pesto than basil. They're free, they're already in your fridge, and they go from compost-bound to dinner in ten minutes. The recipe that converts most people to scrap cooking.

Time

10 mins

Serves

Cost

~ £1.50

Keeps

5 days fridge

Method

Wash the carrot tops thoroughly under cold water. Pick the soft, feathery leaves from the tougher central stems. Keep the leaves, compost the stems.
Toast the nuts. Dry-fry them in a small pan over medium heat for about 2 minutes, shaking the pan often. They're done when they smell warm and look just lightly golden.
Combine the dry ingredients. Add the carrot tops, toasted nuts, grated cheese, garlic clove and lemon juice to a food processor. Pulse 8-10 times until everything is roughly chopped.
Stream in the oil. With the motor running, drizzle the olive oil in slowly. Stop when it reaches the consistency you want.
Season and taste. Add a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. More lemon if it needs brightening, more cheese if it needs depth.

Zero-Waste Tip

Carrot tops bruise within a day or two of buying. If you can't make pesto immediately, wash and dry them thoroughly, then freeze in a small bag — they'll keep for three months and you can blitz them straight from frozen.

Keeps 5 days in a sealed jar in the fridge. Top with a thin layer of olive oil to keep the green colour vivid.

Freezes well in ice cube trays — pop out a cube whenever you need a flavour boost.

Carrot Top Pesto

Method

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