Roasted Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto and Burrata

April Bloomfield, JBF Award winner, ....."I really love my vegetables, they are so beautiful and versatile"

Portia made this for Easter. We all loved it so much, my daughter in law, Maryanne, took a picture of both the dish and the recipe. My son, Jason and Maryanna are hoping we have it this Thanksgiving. This makes a lot of pesto, the next day I had some ricotta cheese and mixed it with the leftover carrot top pesto and then used it with linguine pasta. It was delicious

Ingredients

20 small carrots with tops (size of pointer fingers, scrubbed well but not peeled) with tops

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

For the Pesto

4 cups of delicate carrot tops lightly packed

A small handful of basil leaves

1/2 cup walnut halves or pine nuts

1 oz. Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated

1 medium garlic clove, halved lengthwise                                        

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cups reserved carrot tops, lightly packed

A five finger pinch of basil leaves, torn at the last minute

2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice.                                                                             

Flaky sea salt to taste

To Plate

1/2 lb room-temperature burrata, drained

3 tablespoon carrot top pesto

Directions

Cook the carrots: 

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 500 degrees F.

Trim the carrot tops, until about a 1/2 inch stem remaining. Pour 2 tablespoons oil into a heavy ovenproof pan big enough to hold the carrots in a single layer. Reserve the trimmings, Set the pan over high heat and bring the oil to a light smoke. Add the carrots, sprinkle with salt and turn them to coat in oil. Cook, turning over the carrots occasionally until they’re browned in spots, 6-8 minutes.

Pop the pan in the oven and roast, shaking the pan occasionally, until the carrots are evenly tender about 8 minutes.

Pesto

Discard the stems from the reserved carrot tops. Add basil leaves and some parsley to it all amounts to approx 4 cups lightly packed. Add to a food processor and pulse several times.

Add 1/2 cup pine nuts or walnuts and 2 oz Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese finely grated. Add 1 tablespoon oil and pulse again. Process until the mixture is well combined but still a bit chunky.

To Serve

Halve the burrata and arrange the halves on a platter Arrange the carrots on the platter so they are pointing this way and that. Add the pesto here and there in little dollops