Last updated on October 20th, 2017
My biggest garden regret of 2017? That I didn’t plant more orange and purple carrots. I love the beta carotene-rich roots as well as the ferny green tops. Yes, carrot foliage is edible! It makes a fine pesto, too, when combined with garlic and lemon. I made carrot top pesto the other day, and used it as a condiment for a sexy sheet pan dinner:
Note: If you don’t have carrots in your garden, or if your farmers’ market or grocery store doesn’t offer organic carrots with the foliage still attached, please don’t despair. Just substitute arugula or baby kale leaves for the carrot greens in the first part of this recipe. (Ordinary basil pesto will work as well.)
To make about 2 cups of carrot top pesto, first detach the green stems and leaves from 6 or 7 carrots. Pull off and discard (or compost) any yellow or dry foliage.
Then roughly chop the greens…
And swish them around in a big bowl of cold water. Dirt and debris will fall to the bottom of the bowl.
Lift the greens from the water (don’t drain them in a colander), and blot them dry on a terrycloth towel.
Now toss the greens and 2 or 3 cloves of garlic into the work bowl of a food processor…
Add a handful of almonds (above) or pine nuts…
The juice of half a lemon…
And a generous handful of grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese.
Obviously, exact measurements are not needed for this pesto.
Pulse the machine a few times just to break up the ingredients.
Then, with the machine running, add olive oil through the feed-tube until a thick-but-spreadable sauce develops.
Taste carefully! Does the pesto need salt? Pepper? More garlic or lemon juice? Amend the pesto as your tongue dictates.
No picture of this next step: Transfer the pesto to a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and pop it in the fridge while you make the sheet pan dinner. (Hint: pesto — no matter its variety — will remain fresh and wonderful for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.)
Scrub 6 or 7 carrots which are not terribly fat, and cut them lengthwise in half.
Surprise! Purple carrots are orange inside.
Put the carrots on a large, rimmed baking sheet. I love my commercial-grade “half” sheets because they do not warp at high temperatures. You can buy them, just as I did, from this online source.
Then take a few ‘Yukon Gold’ potatoes from your basket of just-dug spuds, and scrub them and cut them into wedges.
And by the way, I planted my seed potatoes under straw last summer. The method worked, but it didn’t work nearly as well as the traditional method, where the potatoes are planted in soil and then hilled with more soil or compost. Live and learn, folks.
Add the potato wedges and 1/4 cup water to the baking sheet, and then dust the veggies with kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
Tightly cover the pan with aluminum foil, and pop it into a preheated 400°F oven for exactly 30 minutes.
Oh. We are steaming the carrots and potatoes first, because they take longer to cook than the other ingredients that follow.
While the roots veggies are steaming, you might like to cut a head of broccoli into small florets, just as I did.
After the carrots and potatoes have steamed for 30 minutes, retrieve the baking sheet, and remove the foil wrapping. (TIP: save the foil for future sheet pan dinners.) Give the veggies a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. The oil will help the veggies to caramelize as they roast.
Next, scatter the broccoli over the carrots and potatoes, and nestle 6 chicken thighs among the veggies.
Hate chicken thighs? Use boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size cubes.
Give the chicken and broccoli a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and a generous dusting of fresh or dried thyme leaves.
Roast, uncovered, until the thighs are cooked through, and the broccoli is slightly singed — 30 minutes.
Now put a heapin’ helpin’ of this sheet pan sumptuousness on a blue plate…
And spoon some of the gorgeous carrot top pesto (or whatever pesto you are using) over the chicken, and, if you wish, over the vegetables.
As you’ve just seen, this sexy supper is a breeze to make. I hope you’ll try it some day.
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Here’s the printable:
A sexy, sumptuous, and very simple-to-make sheet pan dinner. The carrot top pesto can be substituted for any pesto -- inlcuding the ordinary basil variety.
Ingredients
- The greens from 6 or 7 organically-grown carrots, thoroughly cleaned and blotted dry
- 2 or 3 garlic cloves, or to taste
- Almonds or pine nuts - a handful
- Juice of half a lemon
- Grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese - a handful or up to 1 cup
- Olive oil - eonugh to achieve a thick but spreadable pesto
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 6 or 7 well-scrubbed organic carrots, sliced lengthwise in half
- 'Yukon Gold' potatoes, cut into smallish wedges
- 1/2 up water
- Salt and pepper
- Broccoli - one medium head cut into florets
- 6 chicken thighs
- Olive oil
- Thyme leaves, either dried or fresh.
Instructions
- To make the pesto, put the carrot foliage, garlic,almonds or pine nuts, lemon juice, and cheese in the bowl of a food processor. Process briefly just to combine. "With the machine running, slowly add enough olive oil to achieve a rich, thick, but spreadable pesto. Taste carefully for seasonings. You might like to add salt, pepper, or more garlic or lemon juice. Transfer the pesto to a bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or until you are ready to make the sheet pan dinner.
- To make the sheet pan dinner, preheat the oven to 400°F. Then put the carrots and potatoes on a large, rimmed sheet pan, and add the 1/2 cup water. Sprinkle the veggies with salt and pepper, and then tightly cover the pan with aluminum foil. Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, and add the brocoli florets and chicken thighs. Give the florets and thighs a drizzle of olive oil and a dusting of salt, pepper, and the thyme leaves. Roast, uncovered, until the chicken is done and the broccoli is slightly singed -- 30 minutes. Divide the dinner among plates, and top the thighs with a generous spoonful of the carrot pesto. Serve hot. Wine pairing: Cabernet Sauvignon.
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Michelle says
Kevin, this is brilliant. I didn’t know that carrot tops could be used and I’ve always felt a tinge of regret throwing the beautiful greenery in to the compost bin. Thanks for this recipe, it looks very yummy!
Kate says
Am I right that you did not peel the carrots?
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Kate – I never peel carrots which were grown in my own garden. I just scrub them really well. If you have non-organic carrots, probably best to peel them.
Rosemary O'Garra says
Hi Kevin, I too did not know that the carrot tops are edible. I will try them. I love pesto and last year had a glut of italian flat leaf parsley which I made into pesto. It was so good. People asked me what brand it was!!! I will be making it again this season. We are in Spring now so I have planted flat leaf parsley again, more than I usually would. The recipe is the same as yours, just substituting parsley for carrot tops/basil. I use roasted walnuts instead of pinenuts. Thank you for your posts/videos. Love them.
John McClellan says
Have enjoyed your posts–have influenced my gardening quite a bit. Thanks
Aliyah Schick says
You had me at the first photo of the carrots! Gorgeous! And then when you cut them in half, with all that inner beauty revealed? Swoon! I’m planting orange and purple carrots next spring! Thanks, Kevin!
Joanne says
Food52 has a recipe for “green balls” using carrot tops or any other green parts of veg that we usually toss in the compost bucket. they can be baked or fried and used in any recipe normally for “meat balls”.
I grew celery this year for the first time and use the celery leaves in the “green balls” along with the carrot tops.
Annie says
Absolutely Lovely! This is how I cook. Yet, I haven’t ever roasted the meat along with the veggies. I’m going to have to try that–I think thighs are the tastiest part of the chicken.
And carrot pesto! Yes! I discovered carrot pesto this summer because my neighborhood CSA people kept loading me up with carrots with tops attached. What do I do with all those carrot tops?? Well, I found out and I have made at least 4 batches of pesto. I have been using lightly roasted cashews for the nut ingredient. Wow! I’m addicted to CTP now. Move over peanut butter. One thing I’ve done with this green stuff is spread it on crostini topped with a small slice of sharp cheddar.
My sheet pans don’t have blue edges. Will this effect the quality of the meal?
Annie says
Oh, and BTW, (getting ready for breakfast here in the NW) this pesto is fabulous on scrambled eggs. Just a big glob on the side so to pick up a bit with each mouthful. mmmmm
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Aliyah – Must check out green balls!
Hi Annie – I like your idea of using lightly-roasted cashews for the nut component. YUM.
Janet Metzger says
Kevin,
THANK you for another way to use carrot tops! Could you also provide once again your original recipe for pesto made with basil and also how to store basil in the freezer? Thank you,
Janet M
Sekina suleman says
Dear Kevin and friends
Thank you so much for the pan sheet dinner.Just what I needed for the wet,
rainy days we’ve been having here in Vancouver ( Canada).
Have a lovely week.
Lots of love and regards
Sekina
Peggy Doulos says
How interesting about the carrot top pesto. I’ve never thought of eating them but I do feed them to my angora rabbit. I have read that they are very helpful for a sick rabbbit, just like medicine when they won’t eat anything else.
Pat Kelly says
This was just the thing to bring comfort to a day of tossing-it-down rain here on Vancouver Island. The pesto was a real treat! It will now become a staple. And we do love sheet pan dinners. They were all the rage when we lived in the UK some years ago. Thanks for this, Kevin.
BTW, my husband always asks where I get my recipes. When I told him it was another Kevin-delight, he responded, “I owe my girth to Kevin!” He’s really quite thin but he never passes up ‘seconds’ from something I’ve cooked of yours.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Hi Pat – So glad you enjoyed the sheet pan dinner as well as the pesto. Please tell your husband that I, too, “owe my girth to Kevin!”