Beet Pesto

Our kids like beets! We get a LOT of beets in our veggie box. I give them to GG a lot of the time and she makes herself pickled beets. She has more time than us. They take so long to cook! But Jeff got home from work early today so he tackled a beet dinner.

We made this beet pesto about 10 years ago when we lived in Oakland and put it in homemade pasta for beet raviolis. We had more time back then. I still remember how good it was though.

Anyway, tonight Jeff made the pesto and stirred it into pasta. The kids and I got home just as he was pureeing it in the cuisinart. They looooved the color and wanted tastes. Emmett ate a ton of it and Clara really liked it too. I was so surprised. I knew they'd like the color and it does taste good...but it was beets! Kids aren't supposed to like beets are they? :-)

Beet Pesto
4 Fresh beets with greens
1/2 ts Salt + garlic salt
1 onion chopped
1 tsp dried roasted garlic (we've also used a stalk of green garlic
1 c Walnuts, toasted
3/4 of a lime
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Black pepper

Trim & wash beets. Leave 1″ stem, steam till tender (this took about 55 minutes...we had some biiiig beets). When beets are cooked, slip skins off under cool water & set aside. Remove leaves from stems & discard stems. Wash & dry leaves, chop coarsely. In a skillet, cook onions, pinch red pepper flakes & garlic in olive oil till softened. Add beet greens & cook 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a processor & puree with the cooked beets, cut into quarters. Add rest of ingredients & puree again, adding beet water if necessary (ours is pretty thick and pastey but "melts" over pasta). The pesto keeps refrigerated for 2 weeks or freezes. Stir into hot pasta and top with grated parmesan cheese.