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Category: Carrots

Carrot Top Pesto
We have loads of pesto recipes here on this site each one highlights a season or ingredient. Might as well add one more!

Carrot top pesto highlights the first carrots of the season because it is best made with tender young tops. Older long season carrot tops are tougher and a little bitter and will be a bit chewy.

Carrot Top Pesto
- 2 cups washed young tender carrot tops, stems removed
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 cup nuts or parmesan cheese, or both!
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime (optional)
Place the carrot tops, garlic, nuts and or cheese, salt, and pepper and lemon or lime juice in a food processor. Pulse several times. Scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula then slowly add the oil-presto! You made pesto!

Use this with grilled fish or vegetables, mix it in pasta or beans or just spread on bread.
July 29, 2025
Carrot and White Bean Burgers

I hope everyone and their homes stayed safe from the fires. It was very close to us but thankfully we are ok. Our community has been through so much I know we will get through this. We were out of our house for several days and the electricity was off so I had to throw almost everything in the refrigerator away. The root vegetables were all ok. I needed a little comfort food so I made these.

I really like to make vegetable burgers and fritters. I like how they are filling but not heavy.

I haven’t posted very many veggie burger recipes here because it seems like most of them have really long list of ingredients. Most recipes too have you use a food processor so it feels like a bit of an ordeal. This one you mash the beans with a fork. It comes together in a jiff and is really delicious.

I got the recipe here. Lots of great ideas on that site.

Makes 4 big burgers (or 6 smaller ones)

Olive oil
1/2 cup panko
3 shallots, or 1 small onion, diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup grated carrot (from 2 medium carrots)
1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Two 15-ounce cans cannellini or other white beans, drained and rinsed
1 egg, beaten
Freshly ground black pepper
Burger accompaniments, as you like

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet over low heat. Add the panko and cook, stirring often, until lightly browned and crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl or plate, then return the pan to the heat.

Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the skillet, followed by the onion. Cook until softened and lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, salt, and carrots and stir frequently until the carrots are soft and a bit blistered, another 8 to 10 minutes. Add the vinegar, scraping up all the browned bits until the pan is dry.

Remove from the heat and add the toasted panko and beans. Use a wooden spoon or spatula (I used a fork) to very coarsely mash the mixture until a bit pasty and holds together—there should still be plenty of beans intact. Stir in the egg and pepper to taste.

Shape into 4 patties, or 6 smaller burgers (I got 6, they were plenty big) or 10 to 12 sliders. To cook the burgers, heat a thin layer of olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat and carefully cook until browned and slightly firm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes per side. It may be necessary to cook in batches. Serve hot or at room temperature, with accompaniments as desired.

I am positive you could substitute any root vegetable for the carrots, parsnips, celeriac, rutabaga… even winter squash would work. Next time I would add a handful of hemp or sunflower seeds for a little texture.

Delicious meal and the leftovers are just as good as the first day.

Have a great week.

Mo

January 4, 2022
Cabbage and Carrot Slaw

This is a super simple side dish salad you can make ahead and it will keep for days in your refrigerator.

I made a simple vinaigrette not a mayonnaise based dressing. I think it keeps nicer. Mayonnaise gets watery after a few hours. I can re-toss the vegetables to freshen this slaw up and redistribute the vinaigrette and it will be nice and crunchy and evenly dressed.

You could add or substitute any crunchy vegetables you have like celery or turnips. Sometimes I make this with only grated carrots.

Gather the vegetables you are using. Wash them, core the cabbage and trim the carrots. I never peel farm carrots. If you have some herbs, throw them in. After I took this picture I went to the garden and got some chives.

Shred the vegetables either in a food processor or with a mandolin or just with a knife if you like.

I had about 6 cups of shredded vegetables, for that amount of vegetables I made a vinaigrette with these amounts. You can easily adjust for the amount of vegetables you have.

The juice of one small lemon
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4-6 tablespoons olive oil

I mixed it all up in a bowl and tasted it and then decided to add about a teaspoon of honey, not pictured, last minute add-in, that’s why you taste! Toss everything together and enjoy.

You can add nuts or seeds or grated or crumbled cheese to bulk it up for a more substantial salad. Crumbled blue cheese is great. I like this type of salad in wraps for lunch.

It was great to see so many of you Sunday at the CSA party enjoying our community and the lovely Colorado Fall weather.

Have a great week.

Mo

October 8, 2019
Roasted Carrots with Raita

I saw this roasted carrot recipe in the food section of the New York Times a while ago.

I knew it would be delicious, what’s not to love? Roasted carrots, crushed salty peanuts served on what is basically raita .

The recipe is pretty straight forward I hardly changed anything.

INGREDIENTS
FOR THE CARROTS:
1 ½ pounds small to medium carrots (I didn’t cut peel mine they were small)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander

FOR THE RAITA:
1 cup full-fat yogurt-I used goat milk yogurt and it was delicious
1 small cucumber diced
½ cup finely chopped cilantro
¼ teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon lime juice, (about 1/2 lime), plus more for serving (optional)
Kosher salt
¼ cup roughly chopped roasted, salted peanuts- any nut or seed will work here.

Step 1 Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place the carrots on a rimmed baking sheet and toss the carrots with the olive oil. Season well with salt and pepper and roast until the carrots are golden brown and tender, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Step 2 While the carrots roast, make the raita: In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, cilantro, cucumber, cumin and lime juice. Stir well to combine and salt to taste.

Step 3 Spread the raita on the bottom of a plate or platter and arrange roasted carrots on top. Scatter peanuts, and finish with flaky salt and a squeeze of lime juice.

After I took the first picture my daughter came over and it was lunch time. I added a few things I had laying around to the carrots and raita plate to make enough for two of us for lunch. Then took this picture.

We grabbed a couple of tortillas and made, sort of, carrot-yogurt tacos and after about 10 minutes it looked like this.

I love dips and sauces and I love the idea of the raita on the bottom of the dish to be scooped up with the other ingredients. This was a fun satisfying meal to share.

If you try this or anything posted here let me know if you like it, or if you don’t! I love to hear your comments.

Have a great week. See you at pickup.

Mo

September 18, 2019
Carrots with Coconut Butter and Lime

Wyatt met Deborah Madison at the Farmer’s Market a year or two ago, how cool is that? It’s a great story ask him about it sometime.

I haven’t met her, but I do feel like I know her. I have read, and reread Vegetable Literacy and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone so many times I feel like the books are good friends. Her writing and inspirational use of vegetables speak to my heart, as a grower and an eater.

This ‘recipe’ is from her book Vegetable Literacy and is barely a recipe. It is mostly a great idea and inspired combination of flavors. You boil some carrots and toss the cooked carrots in coconut butter and lime. That’s it. But, the combination of coconut butter, carrots and lime are completely delicious and worth adding to your repertoire. Add some nuts or mint, or basil, or parsley if you have it, or just enjoy this very simple preparation and let the beautiful carrots shine.

Start with about a pound of carrots, a lime and some coconut butter.
Put a pan of water on to boil.
Wash and slice the carrots.
When the water is boiling put the carrots in with some salt and boil the carrots for about 5 to 8 minutes or until the carrots are tender.
Drain the carrots and toss the warm carrots in about 2 tablespoons of coconut butter, then squeeze the lime over the carrots. I used 1/2 a lime, taste it and add salt and more lime if you like.

I had some macadamia nuts I added. After tasting this I think almond butter would be good too if you don’t have coconut butter.

Thanks Ms Madison for a simple tasty dish.

Mo

July 24, 2016
Glazed Carrots

Here is another picture recipe. This is a simple really way to cook your carrots, one notch up from steaming. It’s probably my favorite way to eat cooked carrots.

Start with some great carrots.

Hello gorgeous.

Wash and cut the carrots into bite size pieces and cut an orange in 1/2 and juice both 1/2’s. I just took a picture of one 1/2 so it looks confusing, sorry. You can use apple juice or cider if you don’t like orange. I just had an orange today. You need at least a couple tablespoons and up to 1/4 cup of juice for one bunch of carrots.

Steam the carrots in lightly salted water, use enough water to just cover the bottom of your pan and cook the carrots for 4 or 5 minutes. Cover the pan with a lid while they are cooking.

My Mum told me to cook vegetables that grow under ground with a lid on and vegetables that grow above ground without a lid. So, that is what I do, and you probably should too.

Drain the just cooked carrots.

I like to toast some nuts to go with the glazed carrots. You can skip this step if you like. Just toast any kind of nut in the pan you cooked the carrots in until your nuts smell toasty.

Take the nuts out and set them aside for a minute while you finish the dish.
Whack a knob of butter into the same pan you have been using. How much you use is between you and your waistline.

Add the steamed and drained carrots and the juice from the orange. It will spatter so beware of the steam, it all comes together quickly. See the top right bubbly stuff in the pan? That is the juice caramelizing I was taking pictures and not stirring so this probably won’t happen to your carrots.

Stir everything together adding the nuts, if you used them, back to the pan.

…and serve.

If you look really closely at the last two photos you can see little bits of orange that is glazed and caramelized. The next time I do this I think I will cut 1/2 the orange up and juice 1/2. The cooked, glazed orange bits were delicious. Oh! Gack! I forgot to zest the orange and add that in with the nuts!

Dang…if you do this, use your orange zest.

Enjoy your vegetables this week.

August 6, 2013
Carrot Puree
I enjoy cooking with things that remind me of home. Having grown up in New England, two of my favorites are sharp Vermont white cheddar and maple syrup. One of my favorite ways to prepare carrots, which I picked up from eating at fancy restaurants with my grandparents as a child, is a warm puree.

Ingredients:
- Carrots, boiled until tender (enough to feed your party)
- Pure maple syrup, to taste
- Cinnamon, to taste
Optional
- Nutmeg, to taste
- Cayenne pepper, to taste
Simply boil the carrots until they are soft enough to easily stick a fork into, throw them in a food processor and add cinnamon and maple syrup to taste. Nutmeg as well as cayenne pepper also go really well in here. Tread lightly when adding the syrup and the spices so you don’t mask the flavor of the carrots too much. I find our carrots from the farm to be particularly sweet anyway. I prepared this back in June as a side paired with our ripe sugar snap peas for a new take on peas and carrots, but I find this carrot puree to be a very versatile side that goes well with any sort of white fish or chicken. I’ve also used it in burritos with rice and beans in the same fashion that one might use a sweet potato.

Connor
February 7, 2013