Carrots, tops, honey and black garlic

This dish came about because we had a few carrots in our kitchen garden – though we actually get most of our carrots from Martin Boetz at the Cooks Co-op near the Hawkesbury River. We wanted to use the whole carrot, so we made a pesto from the tops. The black garlic has an amazing caramel, balsamic quality and is great to fold through some yoghurt and serve with the sweet carrots. Even without the yoghurt it is still a tasty little dish.

Credit: Greg Elms

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 3 good-sized bunches of baby carrots, with washed tops on
• 50 g toasted flaked almonds
• 30 g honey
• 1 handful basil leaves
• 1 tsp roasted coriander seeds
• 50 ml light olive oil
• 1 lemon
• salt and pepper
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 black garlic clove
• 100 g grated parmesan
• 80 g sheep’s yoghurt

Instructions

Cut the tops from the carrots, season with oil, salt and pepper, then char over the coals or on a char grill. Char the carrot tops a little and set aside. If you don’t wish to char the carrots at home, cook in a 190ºC oven for about 10 minutes.

With a pestle and mortar, smash some of the tops along with coriander seeds, almonds, honey, oil and cheese to make a pesto. Mix the pesto in a bowl with carrots and add more salt and lemon juice. Peel and crush the black garlic, then mix into the yoghurt and finish by spooning the yoghurt into a large bowl with the carrots on top.

Photography by Greg Elms. Recipe and image from Planet to Plate: The Earth Hour Cookbook (available online, $40, hbk).

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.