Carrots become a vibrant ingredient when paired with citrus. If you do not have Cara Cara at your grocery store, you can replace them with any orange or tangerine. You can make the pesto and blanch the carrots ahead of time and keep them refrigerated for up to a week. Just pull them out of the fridge about half an hour before you start to boil the water to temper and warm a little bit. In this recipe I call for the use of a food processor, if you do not have on you can use a knife and then hand mix all ingredients together. The final product will be more rustic but have the same flavor.
•Bring 4 quarts of water and two tablespoons of salt to a rolling boil..
•While water is coming to a boil, remove the carrot tops from carrots Discarding the stem. Wash the leaves and let dry on a paper towel.
•Scrub or rinse and peel carrots .
•Cut the carrots in a uniform size. I prefer to do an oblique cut, also •known as the roll cut about half an inch thick.
•Once water is at a rolling boil, add the carrots. It will take 7 to 12 minutes to cook your carrots to 95 percent. It will depend on how thick you cut the carrot and how hard your water is boiling.
•Set a timer for 8 minutes and test one piece. Once the carrot is •cooked, 95 percent remove it from water.
•Add carrots to a medium/large saute pan with the stock over medium/ low heat. •In a new pot, bring 6 quarts of water and two tablespoons of salt to a boil.
•While water is coming to a boil, place pistachios, garlic, and parmesan into a food processor . Blitz the ingredients until it is the texture of small pebbles.
•Add carrot tops, tarragon, and the juice and zest of your citrus into the processor. Turn it on and slowly drizzle oil to emulsify the pesto.
•Season to taste with salt. If you are unsure, start small and taste your pesto until you reach the desired flavor.
•Once water is at a rapid boil, add pasta, stir and cook according to instructions.
•When pasta is cooked al dente or has cooked according to directions, reserve a cup of pasta water and add pasta to your saute pan.
•Add cold butter and pesto .
.•Stir in two oz of pasta water and season to taste with salt and a squeeze of lemon.•Plate and garnish with carrot top leaves and a sprinkle of parmesan.
Plate and garnish with carrot top leaves and a sprinkle of parmesan.
•Note: I like to use toasted pistachios in this recipe, but you can substitute with pretty much any nut you prefer. Or leave the nuts out altogether and call it a carrot top pistou.
