Beet greens make a tasty pesto, if you don’t mind pink | Cabin Fever Cookbook - Chico Enterprise-Record

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I recently started subscribing to a veggie delivery service, the kind that gives you “ugly” produce, and I received my first box last week. I love it, except now I find I’m buying veggies I wouldn’t have before. I have no idea what I’m going to do with half this stuff. I guess it’s time for pesto.

To satisfy a current craving, I ordered some beets.

I have never cooked beets. I like them pickled — purely a new thing that happened 5 years ago — but I have never attempted to make them myself.

These beets came with the fluffy green tops.

My dad is from the South. From second-hand experience I know that leaves that should normally be mulch can be fried up with a little lemon and butter, and as long as you call them “greens” they count as dinner. Collard greens. Dandelion greens. Mustard greens. Beet greens.

I happened to have a fistful of beet greens, but cooking them down sounded so unappealing, especially when I was looking for something a little more fresh tasting.

So I decided to make pesto.

I had everything I needed, or at least ingredients that were similar enough that they would work.

I started by chopping up the beet greens and blending them in batches. I added one punch of parsley to help balance out the flavor. I don’t typically have olive oil, so I used avocado oil instead. And I used a lime in place of a lemon because I was out.

I like nuts, so I always have them around, but when I went digging for the half open bag of pine nuts I was sure I had, all I found were pumpkin seeds. Into the blender they went.

Out of this motley assemblage of items a well balanced pesto emerged, and it turned out better than I had hoped. But, beets being beets, everything turned dark pink.

I mixed that pesto in with pearl couscous. I made a pesto and pasta salad. I added it to rice, smeared it on my grilled cheese, and ate it by the spoonful.

I need to make pesto more often.

Beet green pesto

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch beet greens
• 1 bunch parsley
• 1 cup roasted and salted shelled pumpkin seeds
• 1.5 ounces grated parmesan
• 1/2 cup avocado oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• Zest and juice from 1 lime
• Salt to taste

Directions: Roughly chop beet greens and parsley. Add to blender, along with oil, lime juice, zest, garlic. Begin to slowly blend together until beet greens and parsley are finely chopped. Add pumpkin seeds and parmesan. Blend until thoroughly combined. Add salt to taste.

Can be used immediately or stored in refrigerator for about 1 week.

Pasta salad with beet pesto

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of cooked pasta
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup beet green pesto
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped small
• Salt to taste

Directions: Mix together mayonnaise and pesto. Add celery and tomatoes with oil. Mix, then stir into cooked pasta. Can be served immediately or chilled for later.

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Beet greens make a tasty pesto, if you don’t mind pink | Cabin Fever Cookbook - Chico Enterprise-Record
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