Carrot Tops Are...Edible! And Make Great Pesto.

Did you know that? Did you? Did you huh?No. Not that kind of Carrot Top. (Not without a nice, long braise, anyway, and who has that kind of time?)This kind of carrot top. Yes way! I know, right? What I had always sort of considered a kind of...curious produce by-product is, in its own right, an overlooked potential addition to the dinner table. We got our CSA delivery this week, brimming with all sorts of vegetal goodness, and great fluffy frondy carrots.  Hmmm, I said to myself. It would be a shame if this went to waste. I wonder.... To the internets!Totally edible. Not poisonous. The stems are a little woody, so they require a bit of work, but in general? Delicious. Kind of carroty and sweet and bright, with a little bit of a parsley bouquet that you almost taste in your nose. I came across a few recipes for pesto, but they served as inspiration more than an actual recipe, so I'm going to claim full ownership of this one.  :) Take:

• One bunch farmer's market/CSA carrot greens from your delicious carrot bunch, which you'll use for dinner (if you have a smallish bunch, like mine, have some additional spinach or baby arugula on hand)
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 handful (about a half a cup) walnuts, toasted
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 handful parsley
• 3 slices cotija (or some other crumbly, salty cheese, like pecorino romano)
• Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
• Ground black pepper, to taste. If you use cotija cheese, DO NOT USE SALT until the very end, if you need it. The cheese is very salty.
• 1/2 teaspoon honey, for balance
• Olive oil, as needed

First things first: Toss walnuts in a dry pan and toast them for five minutes, or until they're fragrant and their flavors have deepened, but they're not burnt. If you make more than you need, you'll have extra to snack on, so don't worry about fastidiously measuring them. Set aside to cool.Clean the carrots and carrot tops. Chop the carrot stalks into bite-size-ish pieces.If you have mostly stalks (like I had) rather than the airy fronds, you may want to blanch the stalks for a minute or two in a pot of boiling water, just to soften them up and make them more pliable. Drain them, then assemble your goods.A word about cotija cheese: Cotija is a dry, crumbly Mexican cow's milk cheese used like parmesan. It's crumbly. It doesn't melt. It's salty-salty. It's DELICIOUS if you crumble it on top of things. And it's got a brisk, clean taste. I chose it partly because I have it in my fridge, but I also have parmesan and pecorino romano. I wanted cotija for its clean, yet salty, taste. For the purposes of this recipe, if you don't have cotija, use pecorino romano rather than parmesan. Parmesan's a little too nutty. Moving on.Zest the lemon, then juice it. Toss the zest, carrot tops, spinach or arugula if you need it, garlic, cheese, honey, half the toasted walnuts (to start), about half the parsley, and a couple of glugs of olive oil into a food processor, and grind in as much black pepper as you can stand. If you want, you can also put in a couple of shakes of crushed red pepper and some fresh-grated nutmeg. Because I did. And yum.Give that a whirl, then taste it for flavor and make requisite adjustments; is it tart vs. peppery vs. oily vs. texturally correct? What do you need?  Does it need a little more oomph because it's too pasty, or not punchy enough? Toss in some lemon juice. Is it not rich enough? Toss in some oil. Is it too sharp? Add some more walnuts. Does it need to be "green"-er?  Parsley!  And so on. If you pay careful attention to what you want a pesto to taste like, and what's in front of you, you can tinker until it becomes one harmonious mix of carrot greens and all other good things.OK. So you've got your pesto. Now what?Slice an onion into half-moons and caramelize the whole thing. You probably won't eat all of the onions today, but you'll thank me tomorrow when you're looking for something to perk up your salad at lunch.Cut the carrots into thin slices. We also had a small handful of baby beets from our CSA; I took the stems and leaves and separated them to cook with some kale (recipe coming soon) for a lovely side dish. As for the beautifully sweet baby beet globes, I washed and peeled them and cut them thinly, roughly as thick as the carrots.Then toss them in a pan with some oil, ground fennel, and salt and pepper. Saute them for...oh...however long it takes. Fifteen minutes?  They're both hard root vegetables, so they do take a while to saute, but they're also tender baby versions, so exercise judgment. Taste as you see fit. Let them go for at least ten minutes, giving the pan an occasional shake. When they're almost cooked and ready to eat, take some white balsamic vinegar and pour it in a slow drizzle once or twice around the pan. Let that cook down for another two or three minutes to create a light glaze.Toast some bread. Put down a layer of pesto, add some beets and carrots, and top with caramelized onions, a dash more fresh parsley and another grind or two of cracked pepper and voila! You've got a great, summery, no-oven, open-faced sandwich that is as close to nose-to-tail cooking with vegetables as you can get.Served with a green salad and the braised kale and beet greens, this dinner was insanely satisfying. Each bite of the open-faced sandwich ran a wonderful gamut of flavors, from peppery and savory to sweet and brisk and cheesy-rich. Served with a side dish of bitter greens laced with an obscene amount of garlic, this is the sort of dinner that covers all the bases. Relatively easy to make, no oven, barely any refuse to clean up, delicious. What are you waiting for?