Carrot-Top Pesto with Roasted Carrots Radishes and Cherry Tomatoes

This delicious pesto could not be easier, healthier, or more "sustainable" in that you're using something that all too often gets thrown away. It has a bright, herbaceous flavor and is just different enough to add a new twist to this classic condiment. 

I was inspired by this carrot-top pesto recipe from Bon Appétit but I just eyeballed everything and skipped the cheese, though I will be adding cheese when I toss this pesto with pasta later in the week. 

Carrot-Top Pesto
the green fronds from 6 carrots (washed and shaken dry) - about 4 cups or so
one large handful of basil leaves (also washed and shaken dry)
4 cloves of garlic, smashed
1/3 cup olive oil (add more, little by little, while scraping down the sides of your food processor to get a rough puree)
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts or other nut (toast at 350 for 5-8 minutes)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, optional
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flakes, optional

Pulse the garlic, nuts, and olive oil until relatively smooth. Pack in the greens and pulse until you get a rough puree, adding more olive oil, little by little, while scraping down the sides of your food processor to get a rough puree. Add the cheese, if using. Then salt and pepper to taste. 

Use right away on pasta, rice, potatoes, atop crostini, with roasted veggies, as a dressing on fresh salads, or freeze for later use. Freezing in ice cube trays is smart and allows you to grab a bit of pesto, say to toss into a sauce for extra flavor, whenever you need to!

I tossed mine with carrots, radishes and cherry tomatoes and roasted at 425 for about 30 minutes until everything was blistered and delicious.

Pesto is a condiment that most people love but not enough make because it seems sort of complicated. I hope this post helps to demystify it. The basic pesto formula is basil, olive oil, garlic, pignoli nuts and Parmesan cheese pureed (with salt and pepper to taste, of course). If you aren't being a stickler, however, you can change up the nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, brazil) and greens (arugula, carrot-tops, sorrel, watercress) and even swap the Parmesan for another hard-aged cheese (grana padano, aged gouda or manchego, hmmmmm!). 

Even more willy-nilly than pesto, is it's cousin, chimichuri! Check out my recipe/guidelines for that here!

Fattet Hummus (Tahini Yogurt Chickpea Bread Pudding) from Food52

This "bread pudding" is really delicious. Depending on how much torn-up toasted, baked or fried pita you add, it can range from a dip to a much heartier entree-level dish. Either way, it's delicious. 

I added more tahini than the recipe calls for, and also more mint - about 1/4 cup of each. I also saved time and effort by just breaking some Stacy's Multigrain Pita Chips into the dish rather than dealing with prepping the pita myself. Also, if you don't have pine nuts, try walnuts, pecans, or something else (and tell me what you think!). The crunch is nice. 

You can really knock this dish out of the park if you use high quality, flavorful chickpeas. Arrowhead Mills Organic Chickpeas, soaked overnight then brought to a boil and simmered until tender in fresh salted water, are amazing.  They are a whole different animal than any canned variety I've used. Frying about half a cup to garnish is also key for the texture and beauty of this dish.

I usually serve it with still more pita chips for dipping. Another important note, if you make this to bring somewhere and want it to look gorgeous, transport the dip in one container, the fried nuts and chickpeas with their oil in another, and bring the paprika and some extra mint leaves to garnish on-site. Assemble the dish right before serving so everything looks all drizzly, fresh and perky.  

Click here for the recipe! 

Crock Pot/Dutch Oven Fragrant Braised Beef with Allspice and Cinnamon over Whole Wheat Shells

It's been harder and harder to find the time to post these days with the little one napping less and less and playing more and more. Here's an easy recipe for a fragrant, delicious pot roast from my friend Stacie that, I promise you, will make up for my absence. It can be served over noodles or rice, in a sandwich, or simply along-side a loaf of crusty bread and butter. It's also a great recipe for the summer because it makes a lot and the crockpot won't heat up your whole kitchen. Enjoy!

Crock Pot Braised Beef with Allspice and Cinnamon 
* If you don't have a cock pot, see my dutch oven instructions below.
1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces (or 1/2 teaspoon ground)
4 whole cloves (or 1/4 teaspoon ground)
3 allspice berries (or 1/4 teaspoon ground)
6 black peppercorns (or 1/2 teaspoon ground)
olive oil
about 3.5 lbs beef (chuck, round, or shank/brisket) trimmed of excess fat
1 large yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 cup hearty dry wine (any red you have on-hand is fine, just use one that's drinkable)
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
salt and pepper

In a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, grind the cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and peppercorns to a fine powder. Just use ground spices if you don't have whole ones on hand.

Prep all your veggies and get your wine and canned tomatoes ready.

Heat some olive oil in a large sauté pan or cast iron skillet over high heat. While its heating, dry the beef well with some paper towels and salt and pepper it liberally on all sides. When the pan is smoking hot, brown each side of the beef for about 5 minutes each, so the entire surface is seared and crusty. Transfer the beef to your crock pot.

In the same pan you browned the meat in, sauté the onions over medium heat until they're lightly browned. Add in the celery, carrots and garlic and sauté for about 4 more minutes (reduce the heat if needed so you don't burn the garlic). Add in the spice mixture and sauté everything for another minute. Pour in the red wine and cook it down for about 10 minutes or so. Be sure to deglaze your pan here, aka scrape all the yummy bits up off the bottom of the pan. 


Pour the contents of the pan over the meat in your crock pot. Add the crushed tomatoes a good pinch of salt to taste. The liquid should cover at least 3/4 of the meat. Add a cup or two of water if it doesn't. Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours, turning the meat over at the halfway point if you're around to do that. You can cut the cooking time down by a third to a half depending on the power of your crock pot by cooking it on high.

*If you are short on time, just toss the veggies, spices and crushed tomatoes into your crockpot and stir well. Brown the beef well on all sides and then nestle that in there. Deglaze the pan you cooked the beef in with the red wine and then add that to your crock pot and power it up. 

Serve over pasta, creamy polenta, or with roasted potatoes. It's also amazing with just some crusty bread drizzled with olive oil or slathered with butter. A dollop of crème fraîche or a grating of hard, aged cheese like Grana Padano, Parmiggian Reggiano, or Pecorino really sends it over the edge. 

*If you don't have a crock pot or prefer to use a dutch oven. Preheat your oven to 325 at the start of the recipe and set the racks so the dutch oven will sit roughly in the center of the oven. On your stovetop, heat some olive oil in the dutch oven and sear your meat then remove it to a plate. After you remove the beef, sauté the veggies and spices as described above. Add the wine, scrapping up all the good bits from the pan, then add the crushed tomatoes and season to taste. Put the meat in, again making sure it's 3/4 covered by the braising liquid (add just enough water or extra crushed tomatoes to accomplish this if it's isn't), cover and roast in your oven until the meat can be easily puled apart with a fork (about 6 hours or so).