Carrot top and goat’s cheese quiche
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Line a tart tin with the pastry, prick the base, cover with baking paper and baking beans or dried pulses, and blind bake for 10 minutes.
- Wash the carrot tops thoroughly in several changes of water, spin them dry and remove the thick stalks. Roughly chop the leaves.
- Slice the onion and fry it in the olive oil for 3 minutes. Add the carrot tops and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until they wilt and their water has evaporated.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the milk, crème fraîche, Parmesan, turmeric, a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper.
- Remove the paper and baking beans. Spread the carrot tops over the pastry, crumble the goat’s cheese on top and pour in the egg mixture.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the quiche is golden and set. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
You’ve bought a lovely bunch of carrots and you’re about to throw away the leafy green tops? Wait! Carrot tops are edible, and they’re delicious. Their flavour, somewhere between parsley and carrot with a slightly bitter edge, goes beautifully with eggs and cheese. Our favourite carrot top recipe is this zero-waste goat’s cheese quiche: simple, generous and the perfect way to discover this forgotten vegetable.
Can you really eat carrot tops?
Yes, and people have done so for a long time. Carrot tops are the leaves of the carrot, the green part that grows above the root. For generations, families with a vegetable garden used them in soups, stuffings and omelettes. They were simply forgotten when supermarkets started selling carrots without their leaves.
You sometimes hear that carrot tops are poisonous. That’s a myth: they are perfectly edible. As with many leaves, just choose fresh tops and wash them well. The only real word of caution is for people allergic to carrot or celery, who should be careful, just as they would with the root.
What do carrot tops taste like?
Raw, carrot tops have a fairly strong herbal flavour, close to flat-leaf parsley, with a slight bitterness. Cooked, they become milder and taste like spinach with a hint of carrot. That’s why they are used a bit like a fresh herb when raw, and like a leafy green vegetable when cooked.
Choosing and preparing carrot tops
To cook with carrot tops, you first need to buy bunched carrots with their leaves on. They are easy to find at markets, organic shops and greengrocers, especially from spring to autumn, when new-season carrots arrive.
- Choose bright green tops, firm and with no yellowing or wilted leaves. The younger they are, the more tender they will be.
- Separate them from the carrots as soon as you get home. The tops keep drawing water from the root, which makes the carrots go soft. Cut them off one or two centimetres above the top of the carrot.
- Wash them thoroughly in several changes of water, as soil often hides at the base of the stalks. Dry them in a salad spinner.
- Remove the thick stalks, which are often fibrous. Keep the leaves and the thin stems.
Once washed and dried well, carrot tops keep for two to three days in the fridge, rolled up in a damp tea towel or in an airtight container.
Why a carrot top quiche?
A quiche is the best way to get to know carrot tops. Gentle baking in the egg custard softens their bitterness, and the goat’s cheese adds a creamy, tangy note that shows them off. It’s also a very flexible recipe: you can replace some of the tops with spinach if your bunch is small, or add some lardons or bacon for a more indulgent version.
Above all, it’s a true zero-waste recipe. A bunch of carrots usually gives 100 to 150 grams of tops, roughly the amount you need for one quiche. That way you use the whole vegetable: the leaves in the quiche, and the roots in a salad, a mash or a vegetable gratin.
Our little turmeric touch
Here at Curcuma.top (curcuma is French for turmeric), we like to add half a teaspoon of turmeric to the quiche filling. It turns a lovely golden colour, and the gently spiced flavour goes well with the green of the carrot tops. Don’t forget a twist of black pepper: it helps the body make better use of turmeric, as we explain in our article on the health benefits of turmeric.
Our tips for a perfect quiche
Wilt the carrot tops before adding them to the quiche
Like spinach, carrot tops contain water. Cook them for a few minutes in a frying pan with the onion: they shrink and release their water, which stops the quiche from turning soggy. Then chop them roughly with a knife.
Blind bake the pastry
For really crisp pastry, blind bake it for 10 minutes, covered with baking paper and baking beans or dried pulses. It’s the simplest trick for avoiding a soggy bottom.
Go easy on the salt
Goat’s cheese and Parmesan are already salty. Taste your filling before adding any more salt.
What else can you do with carrot tops?
Once you’ve tasted carrot tops, you’ll never throw them away again. Here are a few more ideas for cooking with them:
- As pesto: blitzed with olive oil, garlic, Parmesan and seeds, they make an intensely green pesto, perfect with pasta. Try our carrot top pesto recipe.
- In soup: added to a creamy potato soup, they bring colour and flavour.
- In an omelette or frittata: chopped and pan-fried, as in our quiche, but quicker.
- As fritters: dipped in a light batter and fried for a few moments, tempura-style.
- As a fresh herb: finely chopped and raw, they can replace parsley in a tabbouleh, a green sauce or a salad dressing.
- In stock: the thick stalks, too fibrous to eat, add lovely flavour to a homemade vegetable stock.
Are carrot tops good for you?
Carrot tops are green leaves, and as such they provide fibre, minerals and vitamins, like other leafy greens. They are often described as a “superfood”, but there are few official nutritional analyses of them. The main thing to remember is that they let you eat more green vegetables without spending a penny more, which is already excellent news.
Storing and serving
Carrot top quiche keeps for 2 to 3 days in the fridge, well covered. It’s delicious hot, warm or cold, which makes it ideal for a picnic, a packed lunch or cut into small squares as a party nibble. To reheat it, put it in the oven at 160°C (140°C fan) for 10 minutes: the pastry will stay crisp, which isn’t the case in the microwave.
Serve it with a green salad, grated carrot (made with the roots from your bunch!) and a mustard dressing. A complete, colourful, zero-waste meal.
Frequently asked questions
Can you eat carrot tops raw?
Yes, as long as you wash them thoroughly and choose young, tender tops. Chop them finely, as their flavour is quite strong.
Can you freeze carrot tops?
Yes. Wash them, blanch them for one minute in boiling water, cool them in iced water, then squeeze them well before freezing in small portions. You can then use them in quiches, soups and sauces.
Do you need organic carrots to eat the tops?
It isn’t essential, but it’s better if you can, as with any vegetable whose leaves you eat. Either way, wash them thoroughly.
