Beet Green Pesto

I just have to say that I don't like beets. I didn't like them as a kid, and it's not one of those vegetables that my mature taste buds shout for joy over either.

But...

The tops! I never thought to eat those before. Aren't those for the compost bin? I would have thought so, but because of my inability to grow enough basil for pesto, I've been searching for substitutes. And I found this -- beet green pesto. Worth a try. The blog I stole the idea from had a pinkish-purple end result. I was willing to eat that too, but I ended up with this.


Of course, the jar is clearer in my kitchen unless I take off my glasses. I'm too lazy on this hot day to take a better picture.

Rosa needed to do some serious thinning of her beets. They look fabulous in the garden, all tight and pretty looking, but there isn't actually room for the beet to develop if they stay that way, so we thinned a tiny portion together. Selfishly on my part, because I don't really care if her beets get big and round really. Blech!

Okay, so in the spirit of The Pioneer Woman, here is the cast of characters. Unfortunately for you, you will have to suffer through this post without the benefit of her wacky sense of humour. It's not my gift.

So we've got a bag of beet tops, salt, garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese and chopped almonds. You wouldn't have to chop them first, but that's the way they are in my pantry so that I can throw them in my oatmeal in the mornings. And I've taken to keeping my salt in a bowl because it's the trendy thing to do and that's the way I am.

Well, no. Actually my little Dutch lady salt shaker has a tiny cork in the base and I pushed it too far up her skirt to take it out again. That makes it really tough to refill.

That sounded rude. Sorry!

This is like making any pesto and a very inexact recipe. Stuff as many leaves into the food processor as you can. Pulse it to get the bulk down a bit. Stuff some more in, add a handful of almonds, another handful of parmesan cheese, three cloves of garlic and I added two pinches of salt. When you have salt in a bowl, that measurement actually means something. Pulse it again until you like the consistency. I've seen really chunky pesto, but I like it pretty fine.

I read today that processing the olive oil will make it bitter, so I just stirred it through at the very end. Just maybe two tablespoons.

There were only two difficult things with this recipe. I always have trouble getting my food processor to lock in place, and at the end, I had trouble keeping little hands out of the bowl. I don't know about you, but when my kids like something the recipe is a keeper.

So, this is what we had for supper tonight. Pesto chicken, broccoli stem risotto with goat cheese (shhh, don't tell the kids - they liked it), and I had the last of my broccoli head with fried mushrooms while they ate it raw.

Alice says "Delicioso!"

Rosa and I tried a few tops sauteed with garlic for lunch and that was really good too. Next year I'll add beets to my garden, but I'll donate the actual beets to Rosa. If there are any. I may just plant everything so close together that I only get a lot of good greens.