Many years ago, I ran into Alain Giraud, one of the best French chefs in Los Angeles, rummaging through crates of discarded vegetable greens at the Wednesday Santa Monica farmers market. This was a good decade before food waste became the sort of thing people talked about on high-profile panels and in beautiful documentaries. Giraud doubtless already knew to use his kitchen's parsley stems and fennel fronds in stock, as any classically trained chef would, so I ducked under the table and asked him what he was doing.
"It is for my rabbits," the chef said in his thick Parisian accent, tucking a thatch of bright green carrot tops into the straw market basket under his arm, along with bouquets of lavender and chervil.
I remember this for many reasons. Because it was incredibly charming, of course, but also because my daughter used the story years later to guilt me into letting her get her own pet rabbits, which we have fed with discarded farmers market greens ever since. It was also an object lesson in free pet food and the accidental, often invisible treasures of farmers markets. Not only can you feed your kid's permanently hungry rescued rabbits with the stuff but you can make your own dinner out of it too.
Fresh greens are gorgeous, fragrant, healthful and enormously flavorful; they're also endlessly useful in cooking. Not only do we use herbs and greens in soups, salads, sauces and stocks, but also in bouquets garnis, as garnishes, even in cocktails. Why we value some more than others is pretty arbitrary.
Hardier greens, such as those atop beets, turnips and radishes, can be wilted and added to soup or pasta or folded into tacos. Combining the greens with the vegetables attached to them is happily symmetrical. So, load goat cheese quesadillas with both roasted beets and sauteed beet greens. Thinly sliced radishes make great sandwiches -- with butter and sea salt, or smoked salmon and creme fraiche -- on slabs of thick, rustic bread. Turn the radish tops, which have a peppery tang to them reminiscent of arugula, into a vibrant salsa verde. Drizzle over toast or stir into creme fraiche (or yogurt or cream cheese) to brighten the flavor and the color.
The leafy tops of fennel have an aniselike flavor, not unlike the dill they resemble, and are terrific in salads and with salmon and cucumber. Celeriac leaves look and taste like a more hardcore version of celery and thus work well in potato salads and soups.
If you're not familiar with the greens, taste them and consider what dishes you might like. You could also do worse than strike up a conversation with the farmer at the produce stand -- or whomever is digging through those piles of carrot tops and radish greens.
Roasted Carrots With Carrot-Top Pesto
2 bunches small carrots with green tops (about 12)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1/2 cup packed parsley leaves
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
Grated zest of a lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Trim the greens from the carrots, leaving a half-inch or so bit of stem on the top of each. Spread the carrots on a rimmed baking sheet, coat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Roast until the carrots are tender and golden, 30 to 40 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes or so for even coloring.
Meanwhile, chops tops from carrots to make 1 cup packed chopped carrot tops.
In a food processor, combine the carrot tops, parsley, cheese, walnuts, lemon zest and juice, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt and sugar, pulsing until coarsely ground.
Makes 2 generous servings.
Food on 11/01/2017