Thursday, July 26, 2012

Radish- How I Love Thee

I should call this the year of the radish.  I've never liked them but when I decided to grow them this year, I discovered that I actually really do.  I've been growing the French breakfast kind which are long.


I have found them ridiculously easy to grow in a container.  They don't seem to mind being near each other, the way beets do.  And the label said 23 days and ready to eat.  I pretty much agree.  I grab a few greens as they are maturing, but the raishes themselves are ready soooooo soon!  They are the fastest growing thing I've ever grown.  I think I am on my 4th round of growing them at this point this summer and I'll keep at it.. 

I ate a few of them in salads and ate lots of the greens in salads but I wondered what else I could do with them.  Can you cook them? 

Why yes, indeedy you can cook them and if you do, you will never look at radishes the same way again.
I found this recipe online here:

Radishes with Pasta and Radish Greens
24 radishes, sliced (about 2 cups) with green tops (but this is really just an estimate)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (I used scallions one night, sooooo good)
12-ounce package short pasta such as penne or shells, cooked
1/4 cup cooking water from pasta
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
Salt and pepper
  1. Separate the greens from the radishes. Wash greens in several changes of cool water. Drain or spin dry in a salad spinner. Wash and trim radishes. Thinly slice radishes.
  2. Heat oil in a large skillet or wok. Add onions and cook just until they begin to soften. Add radish slices and greens. Cover and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until greens wilt and radishes look almost translucent. Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper. Taste. Adjust seasoning.
  3. Add drained pasta to skillet and toss. Add cooking liquid from pasta and stir. Sprinkle on the cheese and toss. Pass additional cheese if desired.
This dish is amazing for two reasons. 

One, because it uses radishes in a way no one expects and they lose their 'radish' taste.  These are particularly peppery radishes and I like the peppery aftertaste but not the 'yucky radish' duringtaste.  That completely disappears in this dish and so does the peppery bite.  I don't know exactly what gives this dish such flavor but it is shocking how good it is.

Two, I get to use my Pampered Chef  Microplane Adjustable grater to grate the paremesan cheese into it.  I seriously adore this device because it grates so finely and so smoothly.  It makes me want to just grate and grate and grate until I grate my fingers right off.  Which actually can't happen because of the handy safety device.  But, still.  I love things that work smoothly and without a lot of fanfare.  I will never go back to that crank device for parmesan cheese again!



I wish I had a better picture and I thought I did.  You can't really see the greens or the radish pieces, but they are in there, I promise.  I must have snarfed it down too fast bother taking a picture.  I made this for a friend recently and she is a foodie and she highly approved.  And marveled at the ingredients and how tasty it is.

And k-ster claims a dislike for radishes but he ate this with abandon.

Now, if I could just get him to believe that beets are amazing too........  He threatened to leave if I ever offered him a beet, especially if it's in disguise.

Linking up here and here and here

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