beet green pesto panini with roasted beets
Since the arrival of our first crop of beets I have managed to eat beets three times a day. Juiced beets in the morning, roasted beet sandwich for lunch, and beet pizza for dinner. It’s out of control and I love it! If you are not a beet person I apologize in advance. The truth is, I became a farmer so I could eat as many beets as possible. The future is looking very purple!
Look at those babies! I’m so proud.
The inspiration for this beet green pesto came to me while Taylor and I spent the morning weeding.
One of the best things about weeding for hours on end is that I get some of my best thinking done while doing this mundane task. You can pretty much thank the weeds for all the recipes on this site!
Between all the beets I’m eating and my usual glass of red wine with dinner my skin tone has definitely taken on a purplish glow. Taylor says it’s a healthy glow and I’m just going to go with that!
Recently, I have had a few emails from people wondering what the heck to do with beet greens. Taylor and I usually juice them. However, there are so many other ways to incorporate them into your meals.
Tonight I would like to share with you a lovely beet green pesto recipe. This pesto tastes so stinking good and adds a nice flavor to this roasted beet panini. Feel free to use this pesto on pasta, pizza or whatever else you can think of. However, it tastes best when paired with roasted beets.
FYI: for my dairy free friends, you can sub organic yellow miso instead of parmesan cheese in the pesto ( I do this all the time and it’s awesome!) Instead of goat cheese add avocado to the sandwich. Enjoy!
Beet Green Pesto Panini With Roasted Beets
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 25 mins Serves: 2
- For the pesto:
- greens from one bunch of beets, (about 4 cups worth) discard yellow leaves
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup pistachios (or nut of your choice)
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- For the panini:
- 4 medium size beets, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
- 1/4 of a red onion, diced
- 1/4-1/2 cup goat cheese
- a few handfuls of spinach
- 4 slices of your favorite bread
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Combine sliced beets with a little olive oil salt and pepper. Place on a prepared baking sheet and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until for tender. Flip beets over halfway through cooking time.
- Combine garlic and pistachios (or nut of your choice) in a food processor. Pulse until finely minced. Add beet greens, parmesan cheese, and olive oil. Pulse until smooth. Add more oil (or a little water) as necessary. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Assemble sandwiches by spreading a healthy portion of pesto on each slice of bread, followed by goat cheese. Layer a few slices of roasted beets, onions, and spinach. Place sandwiches in a panini maker or in the oven until slightly melted and toasted. (about 3 minutes)
- Enjoy!
Notes
Use this recipe as a guide and taste test as you go.
I have never tried beets before, but I clearly need to. I love to roast radishes and turnips. Do these taste similar?
Hannah,
Beets taste much sweeter than radishes and turnips. You must try them!
I hope so hard that “The truth is, I became a farmer so I could eat as many beets as possible” is actually a true statement, because that = AMAZING. Btw, I started drooling over the first picture in this post before I even read anything or knew what this post was about. Love it, looks amazing.
GREAT idea for beet greens!!! I’m a zero waste person, and I have to admit sometimes I do toss the greens because I’m too lazy to figure out something fun to do with them. I love your pesto idea and your sandwich looks awesome! I want to turn purple with you…wine, beets…turning purple is something I’d be great at! 😉
You have outdone yourself. Beet greens AND roasted beets in the same recipe? This obsession has taken over your life! Haha. But in all seriousness- I want to become a farmer now too so that I can have fresh beet greens (I never use mine because I feel like they’re normally already pretty wilted).
haha! the obsession is totally taking over!!! if you make it out to oregon I will save you some beets!!!
Mmmm, I LOVE beets. Seriously regretting how many beet greens I’ve thrown away in my day, though — never again. Gonna make this pesto stat!
The greens on my supermarket beets are always too wilted and sad to use 🙁 Hopefully once my CSA starts this summer, I’ll get to try out this pesto! Also, love your new recipe plugin – lookin’ good!!
I am kind of obsessed with beets. They taste amazing prepared so many different ways!!! I have never had roasted beets within a sandwich before, though, and this should definitely be remedied, *especially* after viewing this tasty stack of veggies. And beet pizza???? Girl, you are blowing my mind!!!
This Panini is where it’s at! Yum! That’s pretty sweet that you can have fresh beets by the dozen whenever you please. I’m worried the next picture of you is going to be one with purple tinted skin. 😉
Your new recipe layout looks awesome!
I’m smiling about the happy little accident that occurred when I stumbled onto your blog! Your photos are drool-worthy and I now want to quit my job and begin farming ASAP.
Serious question — will roasting beets make them sweeter (as it does most veggies)? I made a beet salad once but I don’t think I roasted them. I couldn’t get on board with the taste but your enthusiasm, photos, and recipe make me want to give them another try. The beets easily stand in for meat in this sandwich, along the lines of a portobello mushroom. Looking forward to following your blog!
Lauren,
Thank you for stopping by the blog! I’m so happy you found me!
Lauren, I hit return before I finished writing you back! Roasting beets will make the beets slightly sweeter. However, if you are not a huge beet fan I suggest trying them a little at a time. I love eating them in a salad with a tahini dressing of some sort. I also love the combination of beets and cheese. Let me know if you try beets soon and how they turn out for you!!!
Thanks Andrea, will do! The beet sandwich & pizza photos look too good not to try. Going for it!
Hey Andrea! I got some beautiful beets at my local farmers market earlier this week and combined your recipes for the beet-pesto-sandwich and the beet pizza. I made the pesto and used it on the pizza, added some portobello mushrooms & red onion, substituted goat cheese for the bleu cheese, and then otherwise followed your pizza recipe. DELISH! And the boyfriend loved it also! Success all around and we are now beet converts. Thanks for sharing these recipes!
thank you weeds for this recipe! 🙂 I love the idea of using the greens for pesto – I”m guilty of usually throwing them out because I don’t know what to do with them, so next time I’ll try this!
Trust me, the weeds aren’t going anywhere so hopefully some other tasty creations are around the corner!
While I love beets insanely, that is not why I’m commenting… I just have to say: Taylor’s hair looks AWESOME. It sort of makes me want to get my haircut in hopes that mine would look just like his… that’s possible, right? I mean, same genes and all!
(is that weird??!! Whatever, it’s true)
P.S The new recipe format is totally killer! LOVE it.
Please tell me the trick to growing beets! I planted mine from seeds and have NOTHING to show for it!
I love your beet recipes. I will roast beets and just eat them plain, but your panini looks much better!
I wish there was a full proof trick! We definitely put a lot of green manure into our soil first and then we tend to over seed in hopes that we have a decent germination rate! I hope this is semi helpful!!!
Yes, thank you! Can you explain green manure?
I love these Friday photos! There’s so much life and vibrance in them! It’s amazing seeing everything you two are growing and reading about your triumphs and tribulations. Happy Friday, lady! I’ll be thinking of you while I enjoy my Friday wine! 🙂
Oops, I’m not sure how this comment ended up on this page instead of your Friday post. But I did want to tell you this soup looks incredible! I’m amazed you have the energy to make such a delicious soup after working so hard and being tuckered out!
no worries! it’s all fixed now!
Hey Andrea!
Stellar blog, your recipes slay it every time.
I noticed the note about replacing the parmesan with miso and, being vegan, I am loving this idea. Any suggestion as to how much miso for the 1/4 cup parm substitution?
Pesto, beet and goats cheese in a sandwich… heavenly!
I can’t believe I haven’t discovered this recipe before – that sounds delicious and I’ll definitely try making pesto with the green of the beets I bought today 🙂
So far I’ve only checked out the vegan section of your blog (there are so many great recipes and they’ve been keeping me busy) that I haven’t read the other stuff and I just realized what I’ve been missing out on!
Love. just stopped at the pesto and had that with bread … until eternity. So good. And I love a good poached egg so this was fabulous
yay!!