Roasted Carrots with Carrot Greens and Kale Balsamic Pesto

Roasted Carrots with Carrot Greens and Kale Balsamic Pesto



I fell in love with the carrots with their green tops attached to them while shopping for groceries at Walmart. 


I forgot to photograph the ones I bought from Walmart. They were just as beautiful as these ones in this image I obtained from the web, Dreamstime.com.

I just saw a recipe for roasted carrots with chimichurri sauce made of carrot greens at the gorgeous website Love and Lemons.  I decided to follow suit and roast these carrots.  Instead of chimichurri I decided to drizzle the carrots with a combination of carrot green and kale in a pesto that has also basil, olive oil and the wonderful addition of balsamic vinegar.  I did not have enough carrot greens so I resorted to adding the last of my kale from a bag I bought at Sam's.  (I have been doing a lot of food shopping and food market hopping lately). 

The result is earthy and delicious.  Not at all weird.  I tested it with my son-in-law and and my daughter and they gave it the thumbs up.  The roasted carrots were very sweet and made doubly delicous by the pesto. You will see more use of this versatile pesto in future recipes.  I like that it has the olive oil and balsamic vinegar within the pesto which will be good for recipes calling for them. 

Carrot Greens and Kale Balsamic Pesto

1/4 cup basil

1 loose cup carrot greens, stems removed 

1 loose cup kale, stems removed 

3 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup grated parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

2 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Cut the greens of the carrots leaving a quarter inch of their stem on. Remove the stem from the carrot greens. Set aside the carrots for roasting (see below).

Remove the stems from the kale leaves.

Blanch the carrot greens and kale and then pat dry with paper towel or towel.  Mix them with the rest of the ingredients in a mini processor. Pulse the mixture till well blended.

Place over roasted carrots (see below) or other vegetables.  You can also spread it on crostini, fish, chicken, pork or beef.

Roasted Carrots with  Carrot Green and Kale Balsamic Pesto

• 1 bunch of carrots with green tops
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Carrot Green and Kale Balsamic Pesto (recipe above)

Remove the greens from the carrots with quarter inch of the stem left on on carrots. You can leave the skin on the carrots. Use the greens for the pesto above.

Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. 

Serve with the Carrot Green and Kale Balsamic Pesto or other Pesto.