Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 celsius). Wash the carrots well and leave the skins on, unless they are particularly gritty. Trim the tops and set aside. Add the carrots to a roasting dish and toss with the oil and salt and pepper. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. The exact timing will depend on the size of your carrots, so check after 25 minutes to gauge how they are doing.
While the carrots are roasting, place a frying pan over a low heat and add the sunflower seeds. Toss or stir every couple of minutes until they are lightly golden and smell nutty. Place ¼ cup of the seeds aside to sprinkle over before serving.
To make the pesto, place all of the pesto ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary. Note: If this is your first time making a parmesan free pesto you will need to add a lot more salt than you would normally to counteract the fact the naturally salty parmesan is replaced by the nutritional yeast.
When the carrots are ready you have a choice. You can serve them hot or leave them to cool. I personally prefer to let the carrots cool to room temperature and eat this as more of a salad, but the choice is yours. When you are ready to serve place the rocket (arugula) on a large serving dish and top with the roasted carrots and dollops of the pesto before adding a final sprinkling of the reserved sunflower seeds.
Notes
This will make more pesto than you need. Enjoy the leftover pesto with crudites, crackers, spread on sandwiches, on pasta, or as a dressing on salads. I'm sure you will have trouble finding ways to use it.