Radishes, Ultimate Fast Food

For a fast-growing crop, choose the radish, that peppery globe with raw crisp crunch and sweet roasted smoothness.  With edible sprouts, leaves, roots, blossoms and seed pods, radishes are versatile and deserve to star in more than salad dishes.  

Raw Radish Sauce

Yielding mature vegetables within a few weeks, radishes are a perfect kid-friendly plant and since they grow well in a garden, raised bed or container, they are easy to maintain in early spring or fall.  For containers, choose a pot that is at least 6 - 8 inches deep and fill with rich, loose organic soil.  Outdoors, work in a few wood ashes to control pests and enrich the soil.  Sprinkle seeds atop soil, as lightly as possible, and use hands to brush soil over the seeds.  Water until soil is moist and when seedlings appear, within a few days, thin to allow a couple of inches growing room for remaining plants.  Save thinned spouts to toss in salads or stir fry or enjoy eating as you work.  For successive harvests, continue planting seeds every two weeks.  

Unthinned carrots produce interesting shapes

When it comes to eating radishes, recipe possibilities are only limited by lack of imagination.  When cooked, the slightly prickly leaves are velvety smooth and make a delicious soup.  For the recipe, see earlier blog, Ready for Radishes
For a traditional French treat, serve mature radishes, scrubbed clean and sliced or served whole, with butter or cream cheese and a sprinkling of coarse salt.  Roast radishes alone or with other root vegetables for a side dish.  Use blossoms as garnish or addition to an edible flower salad.  Add seed pods to any stir fry or quickly cook them alone or with sugar snap peas in a bit of hot oil for complementary flavor and visual interest.  

Not all heirloom radishes are round

One of my favorite radish recipes is from a 1982 Bon Appetit cookbook.  A lovely pink color, Raw Radish Sauce is perfect for baby or bridal shower parties and is delicious as a sandwich condiment, raw celery filler, dip for chips or crackers or just eaten with a spoon.  Stir into hot pasta for a creamy sauce or plop a dollop on a baked potato.  When it comes to this sauce, there is no bad way to serve.  Well, it probably would not go well with coconut cake. . . but then again, it might be worth a try.

Raw Radish Sauce
(Adapted from Cooking With Bon Appetit: Appetizers, 1982)

Fresh radishes to yield 1 cup finely chopped, about 12 - 14 medium/large, remove tops and tap roots, scrub and quarter
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh dill
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

Place all ingredients in food processor and process until smooth. Put mixture in container with lid, refrigerate about 4 hours before serving.