Thursday 18 June 2020

Homegrown Tea & Carrot Top Pesto!

I'm know I'm preaching to the choir here but a fully homegrown lunch does feel pretty good!


I had a forage around the garden and decided if I could pull a meal together from what we have growing for the five of us. My wife and children love a salad type meal and I tried to make it as interesting as possible.


In the end I picked more than I show on this picture, I picked kohl rabi, beetroot, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, spring onions, elephant garlic, eggs and mint! I wish I had grow the wheat for the flat breads but that is one for a future self sufficiency goal!



I loved pulling this meal together and sending the kids off to get different bits from the garden or peel the eggs for me.

Every year I keep looking at all our lovely carrot tops and know it's such a waste as I put them in the compost bin. I decided that this was a perfect time to try and do something with them.

I've done my usual and found a recipe and didn't follow it, then promptly lost the recipe I got the inspiration from. Really need to start saving pages on the internet! But still it was so different from what I saw I thought I'd put it here so I can try and make it again sometime!

Ingredients -
carrot tops, a really good handful of the long tops,
4 spring onions,
1 green elephant bulb (I'm sure a garlic clove would do though),
1 small handful of mint leaves,
zest of a lemon,
good quality oil (I use  a cold pressed rapeseed (canola oil),
pint nuts,
1/2 a pack of feta cheese (any strong cheese will do)
salt and pepper,

I did blanch the carrot tops first for a few minutes in boiling water, as they seemed like they might be quite tough. Then added everything to the food processor. Salt and pepper are possible the most important things when making pesto, make sure it's well seasoned - the feta cheese certainly helps on that count!

Keep tasting it as you blend and try to get it just right. I think the mint really makes this work and lifts it, we used swiss mint as we have loads, I planted a huge patch to fight the nettles behind the shed a few years ago, but I'm sure most mints would work except perhaps chocolate mint!


Anyone else used carrot tops before? What do you use them for?

13 comments:

  1. I've made carrot top pesto, a quite different reciepe to yours ( can't eat onions or elephant garlic, so ordinary garlic it is. Haven't use any cheese (accidentally vegan version) but I did use olives and nasturtium capers!

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    1. Now that sounds good! I need to make some nasturtium capers again, havent done that for a few year and they're always great. Did you blitz them in it?

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    2. Yes, with some nasturtium leaves.

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    3. Sounds good! I've just put some nasturtiums everywhere so hopefully lots of leaves, flowers and seed pods!

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  2. Never thought of using carrot tops. Super photos. They capture that freshness that only homegrown vegetables have,

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  3. No, I've never used carrot tops before (except to feed to the goats). They are always so pretty and look so useful, so now I know what to do! I can even use my homemade feta! Thanks Kev!

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    1. Homemade feta sounds incredible! I keep looking at different ways we could have goats here, keep thinking a shepherds hut for milking could work! If you try it let me know how you get on!

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  4. i've heard of carrot top pesto but never made it. your dinner looks so good! how did you prepare your beetroot?

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    1. I grated the beetroot and kohl rabi to make a coleslaw with a perry vinegar and oil. I thought I'd made loads but my kids always eat beetroot so fast!

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  5. Thanks for the recipe Kev. All looks totally yummy. You and your family are very lucky and you are inspiring me to make the best of all I grow, and just to grow as much as I can that we can use.

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    1. I often think of stone soup, even when it seems there is nothing in the garden there is often a meal there if you look hard enough. I'm trying to learn more about the weeds in the garden and use them as well - I have enough of them! That also means that foraging is much more fun! Made a pesto with plantain a while ago which was tasty.

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  6. I love a salad of mixed salad leaves with a bit of young spinach or leaf beet and a little bit of chopped carrot tops In it. yum!

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