Red Carrot Salad w/ Zhoug-ish Sauce

Add some vibrant color to your plate with this Red Carrot Salad! Made with a spicy, herbaceous pesto inspired by Yemeni Zhoug sauce.

Servings as a side

Calories 269kcal

To begin, remove the tops from the carrots and set aside. Wash the carrots, then peel off the outer layer. Then, using a julienne peeler, peel the carrots into shredded strips. When done, place shredded carrots on a serving platter and set aside.
Wash and dry the carrot tops, then remove the stems, keeping only the leaves. (You can save the stems in the freezer to make vegetable stock, or to season broths!) You should have between 1-2 cups of leaves.
Cut your Serrano peppers in half, and remove the ribs and seeds if you'd like a less spicy sauce.
Then, add the carrot tops, peppers, and all other sauce ingredients to a food processor, and blend on high until the sauce is the consistency of pesto. Because the amount of carrot tops may vary, you may have to add more olive oil and lemon juice to thin it out. Taste as you go!
Prep the parsley and pistachios as garnish by roughly chopping them both.
To assemble, sprinkle the salt and drizzle the honey over the carrots, then toss with a few spoonfuls of the zhoug sauce. Add as much or as little as you'd like. Then, top with the chopped parsley and pistachios.
Serve, and enjoy!

This recipe will likely yield more zhoug-ish sauce than you need. You can save it in the refrigerator for 3-5 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Don't worry too much about ratios in this salad - add as much or as little of everything as you like.
If you don't like spice, try a small jalapeño pepper, ribs and seeds removed, instead of the Serrano pepper. Or, try using about 1/4 cup of a green bell pepper if you don't like any spice. You still want some pepper flavor though!

Tried this recipe?Let me know @wellandfull or tag #wellandfull! :)