1,337 easy and fully explained recipes, with 27,293 photos and 78 videos

Carrot-top pesto

You will no doubt be familiar with classic pesto. Here is an alternative, zero-waste version using carrot tops for a surprising pesto, full of fresh flavour.

25K 1 5

Last modified on: September 16^th 2020

Keywords for this recipe:

For 400 g, you will need:

1 50 g whole almonds
2 200 g turnip (or other vegetable) tops
3 1 lemon
4 3 g vitamin C (optional)
5 3 tablespoons olive oil
6 50 g Parmigiano reggiano (Parmesan)
7 olive oil
8 salt
9 pepper
Total weight: 475 grams

Change these quantities to make: 200 g 400 g 800 g 1 kg 200 g

Change measures: Metric

Metric weight Metric volumes

How long does it take?

Time required for this recipe:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
11 min.	5 min.	16 min.

At what time:

When will I finish if I start the recipe at ... ?
When should I start for the recipe to be ready at ... ?
Work this out...

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 5 min.

Put 50 g whole almonds into a small frying pan on medium heat. Toast until just lightly coloured (stir round frequently).

Leave to cool then chop coarsely.

Stage 2

Save 200 g turnip (or other vegetable) tops (carrot tops here). The weight is simply for guidance, so let's just say the tops from a normal bunch of carrots.

Stage 3 - 5 min.

Wash the leaves, cut off the stalks , then drain and dry them in a tea towel or salad spinner.

Stage 4 - 2 min.

Put the leaves in a high-sided container.

Add the juice and zest of 1 lemon, 3 g vitamin C and 3 tablespoons olive oil.

Stage 5 - 2 min.

Blend a first time.

Stage 6 - 2 min.

Add 50 g Parmigiano reggiano (Parmesan), the almonds, salt and pepper, then blend again.

Add a little more olive oil while still blending (have someone to help if possible), until the mixture is smooth.

Stage 7

Your carrot-top pesto is ready.

Remarks

You can make different version of this recipe with whatever vegetable tops you have to hand (e.g. radish or turnip), or different nuts (e.g. hazelnuts). Let your imagination lead you.

Keeping

A few days in the fridge in a sealed bottle.

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
971 Kcal or 4,065 Kj	31 gr	21 gr	85 gr
49 %	12 %	2 %	13 %

Per 100 g
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
204 Kcal or 854 Kj	7 gr	4 gr	18 gr
10 %	3 %	<1 %	3 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

Possible allergens in this recipe: Nuts, Milk

How much will it cost?

For 400 g : 2.13 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

Source

Based on a recipe by chef Angèle Ferreux-Maeght.

This recipe uses (among others)

	Turnip (or other vegetable) tops: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Polenta with beetroot tops, Tenderloin steak with beetroot tops and mushrooms, Turnip top soup, The strange gratin, Super-green, super-thrifty soup, ... All
	Parmigiano reggiano (Parmesan): You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Julia salad, Roast Brussels sprouts with sage and lemon, Meatballs, Seb's Italian-style aperitif slices, Pistachio and spinach pesto, ... All
	Whole almonds: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Rice pudding with fruit and nuts, Tomato pesto, Nougat, Grandma Solange's biscuits, Red cabage salad with toasted almonds, ... All
	Olive oil: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Lille style chicken, Marinated tuna and cabbage, Loin of pork with herbs and julienne vegetables , Tagliatelle and courgette spaghetti, carbonara style, Tomato omelette, ... All

Other recipes you may also like

Fruit crumble

A fruit pudding: very easy to do and delicious: just a layer of fruit with a golden crunchy topping.
331K4.0 1 hour 11 min. February 21^th 2011

Passion fruit jellies

Usually to make fruit jellies or (fruit "paste"), it's like jam but you need to cook fruit pulp and sugar much longer. Unfortunately, this long cooking is bad for both vitamins and flavour. In this recipe we use a special jam gelling agent, to reduce cooking time as much as possible .
305K4 2 hours 30 min. July 4^th 2018

Baked apples from St Aubin le Vertueux

Under this pretty name, my personal version of "Les pommes au four" (baked apples).
232K 24.2 1 hour 7 min. February 21^th 2011

4 pears salad with vanilla

It's a very easy recipe, everything depends on the choice of differents kinds of pears all fully ripe, to give a delicious contrast in the mouth.
205K4.2 37 min. February 21^th 2011

Finger biscuits

These small biscuits, that look a bit like savoy biscuits, are delicious alone or with Champagne, but are also the base for charlottes or Tiramisu.
317K5 50 min. July 30^th 2021

News list of cooking-ez.com

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.

Post your comment or question

Follow this recipe

If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.

Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.