Avo Toast with Carrot Top Pesto
Fall is the season of delicious, nutritious Root Veggies. I have an abundant of Carrots from my garden this year, and instead of throwing away those yummy carrot tops, I created a Pesto with them & made a whole gourmet Avocado toast with it. You can use the leftover Pesto to also make a creamy pesto pasta sauce too! If you're not growing your own carrots, reach out to a local farmer ! If you really can't get ahold of Carrots tops, you could definitely sub them for fresh Basil leaves as well.
Avocado Toast with Carrot Top Pesto
& Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
Serves 4+ (you can make 8 slices of toast with this plus have leftover pesto)
Prep time 25 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Ingredients
Pesto
- 1/2 cup of raw cashews
- 3 TBSP of extra virgin olive oil (e.v.o.o)
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled & chopped in half
- 2 TBSP of nutritional yeast
- 4 loosely packed cups of carrot tops, washed & dried (just take off the longer stems)
- 1/3 cup of water
- 1/4 tsp of ground pepper
- 1/2 tsp of sea salt
- 1/4 tsp of ground cumin
- the juice from half of a lemon
-2 TBSP of balsamic reduction
- 4 cups of cherry tomatoes, halved
-2 TBSP of e.v.o.o (or any oil of your choice)
- Salt and pepper
- Tofu Feta (optional) get the recipe here
- 1 Avocado, mashed (I just add a little squeeze of lemon juice to mine)
- 4 (or more) slices of your fav fresh bread for the toast
(I love Truloaf seeded sourdough, found in Ottawa)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400 F
On a parchment paper or Silpat lined baking sheet, spread out the halved cherry tomatoes
Evenly drizzle on the oil, then grind or sprinkle on a little bit of salt and pepper
Use your hands or a spatula to evenly coat all of the tomatoes
Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes
While your tomatoes are roasting, make the Pesto!
In a food processor, combine the cashews, olive oil and garlic and blend on high until the cashews have ground up into little bits.
Then, add the remaining pesto ingredients & grind on high for about 2-3 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides with a spatula as needed. If you have a squeeze bottle, transfer your pesto into that. Otherwise, transfer it to an airtight container (the squeeze bottle method just makes it look fancy!)
When your pesto is done, go ahead and make your avocado mash and set aside. Right before the tomatoes are done roasting, start toasting your bread.
On a large cutting board or work surface (counter works), lay out your toasted bread. Evenly spread on a generous amount of avocado mash to each slice. Then, evenly drop cherry tomatoes on top of the toast, and add the pieces of tofu feta (optional). Drizzle the tops of the toasts with the carrot top pesto. If you don't have a bottle to drizzle, either spread it on underneath the tomatoes, or you can use a spoon to drizzle the pesto on top of the tomatoes as well. Serve right away!
Snap a shot and tag me on Instagram so I can see your creations!
ENJOY!
