Spring Pea and Carrot Salad with Carrot Top Pesto
It’s a healthy, easy-to-make, fresh spring salad recipe celebrating the seasons baby carrot and snap pea bounty! Crunchy fresh veggies, garlicky homemade croutons, tangy feta and herbaceous pesto create a very colorful spring-a-licious salad with all sorts of flavors and textures!
Servings: 8
Ingredients
Carrot Top Pesto
- 1 bunch carrots tops 1-2 cups washed and any brown tops removed, can sub fresh arugula or baby kale, roughly chopped
- 1 cup fresh basil roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts pistachios, walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds or another nut will also work
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup Pecorino Romano or Parmesan omit if vegan
- 1 lemon zest & juice
- pinch crushed red pepper chili flakes
- kosher salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Spring Salad
- 1 piece ciabatta or sourdough French about 450 g, use gluten free bread if needed, cut or torn into bite sized pieces
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- kosher salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 1 bunch baby carrots cut into ribbons or thinly sliced
- 2 cups fresh snap peas
- 1 bunch radishes thinly sliced
- 2 cups fresh watercress or baby spinach
- handful fresh parsley or mint or a combo
- 8 ounces feta omit if vegan
Instructions
Carrot Tops Pesto
- In the bowl of a food processor with the knife blade attached or a blender, combine carrot top greens, basil and nuts. Pulse until finely copped. With the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil. Add the cheese, lemon zest and juice, pinch of red pepper flakes and season with salt. Taste and add more salt as needed. Pour into a sealable container and keep in fridge until ready to use.
Spring Salad
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- On a large baking sheet, toss bread pieces with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper until bread is evenly coated. Bake in oven for 20 minutes, tossing halfway through until bread is golden and toasted.
- In a large salad bowl, toss carrot ribbons, snap peas, radishes, watercress or spinach, croutons and fresh herbs. Drizzle a few tablespoons of the carrot top pesto on top, to taste. Sprinkle with feta cheese and serve alongside remaining pesto. Enjoy!
Notes
- Fresh is best! Get the freshest baby carrots and snap peas you can find for optimal texture.
- Roast the pine nuts for greater depth of flavor in the pesto.
- Pine nuts can be substituted with any of nut! I mean… have ya seen the price of pine nuts lately??? Walnuts or pistachios work great and the nut skies the limit!
- Use a sharp knife for all the initial chopping of the pesto ingredients, relying on the processor merely to mix everything together.
- If vegan, simply omit the cheese.
- If you don’t have a food processor, a blender can work too.
- Pesto oxidizes! Cover pesto and put in fridge so it doesn’t turn brown until ready to use.
- Any leftover pesto freezes beautifully.
- For storing baby carrots and snap peas: wrap them in a damp paper towel, place them in a loosely closed plastic bag and keep them in the vegetable crisper in the fridge.