Radishes
Radishes. They are a strange little vegetable. The cool, crisp, juicy texture is a stark contrast to the spicy, earthy “bite” that hits your tongue after the first bite. Kikki has always been a little perplexed and put-off by the radish. The flavor-texture combo just didn’t sit right with her. But, when Craig presented her with a big bag of fresh-picked French Breakfast Radishes, she realized that she better figure out a way to prepare and enjoy them so that they didn’t end up in the compost pile.
Conclusion: even for the radish-averse, the roasted and quick-pickled radishes are culinary “wins.” By the end of last weekend, Kikki requested a second bag of radishes!
Roasted Radishes
Preheat oven to 400o F
Cut 8-10 French Breakfast Radishes lengthwise into halves or quarters (to make them all about equal in size)
Grease your favorite roasting pan with a little bit of oil (we used less than a tablespoon of coconut oil in a 10″ iron skillet)
Arrange the radishes, cut side down, in the pan
Sprinkle with salt and pepper
Optional: top the radishes with chopped onions or garlic or chives (we used some green garlic scapes and chives/chive blossoms)
Roast 30-40 minutes – stirring about every 10-15 minutes, until the radishes are shrunken and golden
Quick Pickled Radishes
Thinly slice radishes into a glass or plastic container that has a tight-fitting lid
Sprinkle the radish slices with about a teaspoon of sugar and about 1/2 a teaspoon of salt
Add about 1.5 – 2 tbsp of your favorite light-colored vinegar (we used white balsamic)
Secure the lid to the bowl and shake to coat all of the radish slices with the sugar/salt/vinegar mixture
We enjoyed some of these on a salad about an hour after we put them in the fridge, but the rest stored very well for several days. We mostly used these on our salads, but we also enjoyed them on sandwiches and nachos. (Y’all know how much we love experimenting with random veggies on our nachos!)
We think these would also be great with some fresh ground pepper and/or fresh dill
Place in the fridge and shake periodically to make sure that all of the radishes are well-marinated
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