Radishes... what to do w/ them?

[lynnlato]

Recently, a friend told me about a snack she had while in France. It was crusty bread slathered w/ butter and topped w/ thinly sliced radishes, s&p. This sounded so appetizing I couldn't stand it. She told me that radishes were ridiculously easy to grow and I should try it. Well, that got me going and next thing I knew my husband had created an amazing container garden for me (I live in NC and we have red clay). We planted many things, including radishes which I started from seed.

This is my first attempt at a vegetable garden - wish me luck. But I got to thinking... besides salads, what will I do with this soon-to-be abundance of radishes???

Suggestions, recipes, etc. area all much appreciated! :)

[dct]

A recent package of radishes had a good salad recipe, which I can only paraphrase from memory:

4 cups sliced radishes
1 can black olives, slices,
1 pkg of feta, crumbled
1/4 cup sliced scallions
vinagrette of your choice. Toss together.

It's a good combination, either with canned or "real" olives. I also add some chopped parsley.

[another_adam]

I like to make quick radish pickles for the lunchbox-- I usually slice them into wedges lengthwise (i.e., into 8ths or so), salt them, and leave them to sit. Come back in a bit, give them a light rinse, and squeeze out some of the water. Then toss with something involving sweet+tart: a spoonful of citrus peels (or orange marmalade, even!) with a splash of slightly sweetened vinegar, or pickled plum paste + honey, or tamarind chutney, or whatever. Crunchy and refreshing.

[kchurchill5]

One appetizer I used to make was those tiny little sandwich loafs where the bread is only maybe 3x3' if that. I used the get the pumpernickle. I topped with cream cheese and chives and smoked salmon and use to add regular radishes, but I think the dark purple or black or even the watermelon radishes would be great.

If I didn't use salmon sometimes I would fine chop a seedless cucumber with a touch of scallion and radish, the black or dark purple would be so pretty with this. I added just a light rice wine marinade and then I would top in on the sandwich slice.

Both pretty traditional, cut point to point make a great simple appetizer. Old fashioned, but sometimes fun to revisit those classic recipes. It is a light easy finger sandwich but great as a starter course.

[spm]

If you marinate sliced radishes in a vinaigrette(I use a sweet vinegar) they turn a beautiful pink color and taste wonderful on thinly sliced honey wheat bread lathered with butter. I like to do open faced sandwiches with chive blossoms. So pretty for a tea party!

[Sunny Days]

This is how I often use them up: Toast a slice of bread and spread that spreadable goat cheese on it (I think it's called Chevre?). Drizzle a little olive oil over it and sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning salt. Slice up one medium-to-large radish or two small radishes and place on top.

[berkopat]

Does anyone know how to find radishes that are really peppery? Sometimes the same kind of radish has bight and sometimes it doesn't.

[rochfood]

The bullies on The Simpsons threw them at a crowd of outdoor movie watchers.
They didn't know what radishes were. They had swiped them from somewhere. One claimed they were the result of an apple doing it with an onion.

[ChefJune]

delicious thickly sliced and braised in chicken stock. ;)

Here's another fan of radishes with bread and butter.

[agoldman]

Funny - as soon as I told my French grandmother that I had planted radishes this spring, she told me I had to make a radish and butter sandwich on a baguette. She said to use the best French butter I can find, a crusty baguette, and a pinch of salt. Now I just have to wait for the radishes to be ready!

[richopp]

I use chopped red radishes as the "secret ingredient" in American-style potato salad. I use fewer or no onions and it does not seem to matter. Dice them very fine.

[lynnlato]

Me likes this.

[FoodFuser]

I do the same, but rather than chopped, I used grated radish (pulverized) as a piquant member of the dressing, along with grated onion, and fish sauce.

[Krissythecook]

Try the Russian radish salad published by Jeff Smith (Frugal Gourmet), in the Immigrants cookbook as I recall: Wash and trim about a pound of radishes. Quarter each radish. Mix with sour cream and small amount of sugar. Delicious!

[TheSnowpea]

I love the big black radishes (they are the size of a small turnip or swede and have black, textured skin and white flesh)... I peel and chunk them, drop them in a food pro and blitz them with coarse sea salt and a drizzle of herbal vinegar. Great with steaks or burgers -- it's like a mild horseradish :-)

[lynnlato]

Interesting. I've never seen these. Do u get them at a farmers market?

[kchurchill5]

I've never seen them either, however I may have not known what there were. They sound interesting

[TheSnowpea]

I got mine in my CSA basket, but I've seen them occasionally at my greengrocer. Here're some picture links
http://www.herbalextractsplus.com/images/herbs/black-radish-bsp.jpg
http://www.parade.com/export/sites/de...

I mean, they ARE radishes... somewhat pungent, crunchy and uncomplicated :-)

[kchurchill5]

Thx, they look amazing. I may of just never seen them. I will make sure to look. I love radishes. I could see a great salad with red, black and maybe cucumber for a great color contrast. Maybe a simple rice wine vinaigrette for the three, it would look so pretty, a great summer salad with some fresh mint.

[TheSnowpea]

Oh yeah. I'm there.

[Bigley9]

I've gotten them at local farmers markets (phila area) along with watermelon radishes - amazing! See the pic near the end of this link. I use them as "crackers" for smoked trout!

http://www.deliciousorganics.com/reci...

[kchurchill5]

Wow, I knew about some, but the watermelon radish looks amazing, the french one. Very cool. I will have to look this time when I go.

[Green Omnivore]

that looks fantastic! great idea for a unique appetizer, I will have to try that!

[blue room]

Blend well a mix of 1/2 butter, 1/2 blue cheese. Slather on crispbread or French bread and top with paper thin slices of radish. Very very nice!

[kchurchill5]

Radish, avacado, cucumber and tuna is a great light salad too. Sometimes I just serve it in the avacado or on tomato slices. I just use a light lime simple vinaigrette.

[JRL]

I mix radishes, cucumbers (sliced or diced), chopped scallions, dill, a bit of lemon juice and salt with yogurt for a delicious light lunch or snack. Can also be mixed with cottage cheese.

[lynnlato]

This was an inspiration for my dinner tonight. I went to the farmers market and got gorgeous baby romaine lettuce, an assortment of radishes, fresh mango, avocado, tomatoes, & peppadews. I roasted a Trader Joe's Kosher chicken on high heat and served the two w/ a citrus vinaigrette (orange and lime juice, corriander, shallots, dijon, red wine vinegar, olive oil). Soooo good! Even my 7 & 10 yr olds loved it.

[thew]

very nice slowly braised

[kchurchill5]

I make a radish potato and leek soup. Not bad ... not my absolutely favorite, but still very tasty, my ex used to love it.

[scubadoo97]

Glad someone mentioned it. Braised radishes are excellent. I cut them in half and toss with a little butter and a little water or stock and braise. They turn into little pink delicacies that are tender and mild.

[Green Omnivore]

I tried making the butter glazed radishes from Molly Stevens' All About Braising tonight. It turned out beautifully with the french breakfast radishes I had. I left them whole, added butter, pinch of sugar, salt and pepper and a little bit of water and braised them. So delicious!

(http://umami-delicious.blogspot.com/2...)

[Missyme]

I make a different sort of salad with radishes--egg salad! Slice radishes, add to chopped hard-boiled eggs, along with plenty of chopped dill and a mustardy vinaigrette dressing. Very nice for lunch on a warm day.

[lynnlato]

I like it! I'll give this a try.

[Missyme]

My bad--that's what happens when you try to post to CH when your eyelids are drooping!
I don't use dill in this recipe, it calls for lots of chopped parsley. But maybe the dill would be good, too...

[himbeer]

I like them sliced and salted as a snack. Very low calorie.

They also make a nice soup garnish. with lemongrass, yum.

[RGC1982]

Many years ago, I took a Chinese cooking class in which the instructor marinated slided radishes in a solution of white vinegar and sugar. They are quite delicious as a side dish or in a salad.

[kchurchill5]

Absolutely that is a great way, a little dill is great with that.

[DGresh]

or mint. Mark Bittman had a simple recipe in which I've made a couple times-- no oil so very light and healthy

http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/...

[lynnlato]

THAT sounds delicious - this is a definite keeper. Thanks!

[lynnlato]

Hmmm, that sounds tasty.

[kchurchill5]

Paper thin radishes I have found as a great topping to some creamed soups. I like the texture plus the tang and coolness again a hot soup.

Also sandwiches, boursin, cucumber, onion and radishes, salmon cucumber and radishes, roast beef radishes, thin red onions arugula, and hundreds of other combinations.

[DeppityDawg]

Don't forget you can also eat the greens!

[carswell]

Yep. The tops are great puréed in soup (onion, potato, a little carrot, chicken broth, a splash of cream).

[kchurchill5]

We just had a thread about radishes, but there are hundreds of recipes. I make slaws, I saute them, fried, add to other vegetables.

http://www.justvegetablerecipes.com/i...
(Here is a bunch of radish recipes

)

I saute with butter, cucumbers radishes tomatoes and onions, I fry them for on top of soups and salads, sliced with jicama, cucumber and a creamy honey sour cream, a cucumber dill cream dressing with radish and onions, potato salads are great, pasta salads, chick peas green peas radish cucumber and red pepper, a fennel radish and orange salad with mint, one with goat cheese, cucumber and shredded radish.

TONS of radish uses.

[c oliver]

Care to post the radish thread?

[kchurchill5]

I wish I could, I know it was about radishes, but I searched and it doesn't come up. It was just last month I know. I have problems with searches, some boards come up ... some don't it seems. I would love to post it. If you can find it please do.

Does anyone else have search problems, sometimes it works great and other times it seems I can't find things.

[MMRuth]

The search function isn't great these days, but if you do a search on a particular board, and then sort by relevance, you can usually come up with the threads you are seeking.

[c oliver]

I saw that suggestion of yours before and it helped alot. Thanks.

[kchurchill5]

Thanks, I'll try searching again MMRuth. Wish I could find it. Maybe just my searching technique :)

Just seems like it doesn't work well.

Anyways, I do love radishes, growing up north we had more than we could eat so it was always fun. Me growing up ... I just went to the garden usually picked a basket of rhubard, peas, carrots and radishes. Went to the hose rinsed and lets just say not much made it back to the house. Peas were the first to go, radishes second :)

[lynnlato]

I was a good 'hound and searched before I started this thread and I couldn't find anything.

[kchurchill5]

Don't worry I went back and couldn't find it either. I know something was there, I tried too. Sometimes I get frustrated with the search feature. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.

[c oliver]

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6059...

Is this it? If so, odd, I found it in a NY minute using MMRuth's suggestion of sorting by relevance. I also limited by the last year. It was the second one on the list.

[lynnlato]

Thanks CO. I don't know if this is the one she was referencing but it has some great ideas too.

[c oliver]

Always a pleasure doin' bidness with ya, ll.

[kchurchill5]

I tried to find it but only tried once, Very inconsistent searching methods it seems.

[kchurchill5]

Yes, and I did try MMRuth's sorting by relevance and limited it to 1 yr. Wasn't there when I first did it. Second time it showed right up.

However I did another search on the Beer list and same result, third time was a charm. Same search criteria, but the third time it came up.

I was pretty sure I did it right but seems to be inconsistent. But thank, that is the thread.

[c oliver]

We ordered posole the other day and along with other condiments, it had sliced radishes. I loved that.