We’re in that fun not-summer-but-not-yet-fall season in Chicago and this roasted carrots and pesto dish is a celebration of that in between season. Chicago has some great farmer’s markets and one of my favorites is the Green City Market. My family spent our first 4 years in America in that neighborhood and I have the fondest memories of walking to the market with my parents, smelling the flowers, trying out the samples, and just being outside with my parents and my sister. Every time I have a busy or stressful week at work, like I did this week, I just want to go back to being 12 and trying our hot sauce samples with my sister on a gorgeous fall day.

The farmer’s market often inspires my simplest cooking. Everything looks so gorgeous that it feels like you don’t have to do much to make it taste good. This bunch of red carrots were calling my name at the market - all I’ve done here is roasted them with salt, pepper, and olive oil. They caramelize and become sweeter as they roast, so it’s a great balanced and easy to make vegetable side. I did feel bad throwing away the lush carrot top greens so I made a pesto to go with the roasted carrots. My go-to pesto has tons of basil and walnuts - I added a handful of carrot tops to the food processor this time. You can play with the proportions and use more carrot tops than basil; I love how bright basil is so I opted for more basil in mine. I’m also trying to eat lighter and have used a lot less olive oil than others might in their pesto so that’s another thing you can alter. Really, pesto doesn’t have a “recipe” so you have a lot of freedom to customize it.

We had this alongside pork chops and all together, it took me about 40 mins to put together, with the bulk of the “work” being done by the oven. It’s a great weeknight dish that feels high-end and it’s also easy scaled up for a dinner party. I would serve these carrots with a roasted chicken or a side of fish for low-effort dinner party.

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the carrots

• 1 bunch carrots, thoroughly washed (you don’t need to peel them)

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• pepper

• salt to taste

For the pesto (makes four servings, freeze half if not using)

• 3 cups basil leaves

• 1 to 1.5 cups carrot top greens

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan

• 1/4 walnuts (or pine nuts, almonds, cashews, whatever!)

• 1 clove garlic

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 2-4 tbsp water, add as needed to reach desired consistency

• salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Wash your carrots thoroughly and cut off the tops. Halve or quarter any large carrots so that all the pieces are roughly the same size, so that they cook evenly. Layer on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and roast in the preheated oven for 30 mins.

While the carrots are cooking, make the pesto. Add all ingredients except the water and olive oil, to a food processor. Begin processing and slowly stream in the oil first. If it’s too thick, next, stream in some water. You can also just add more olive oil, if you’d like!

Layer the pesto on your serving plate. Once the carrots are done roasting, arrange them on the pesto and squeeze a little lemon juice on top to finish. Enjoy!