We've Got Radishes!
Plus: Recipe for Sautéed Radish Toast, and a Jagger radish-pull video
A big week in the garden as we harvested our first radishes! We’ve pulled a few dozen so far — Jagger got right in on the action — mostly to eat raw (but really as a vessel for a sour cream and onion dip I make with this Amish Country seasoning). Our French breakfast radishes are about the size of a plump finger, and they have that clean, peppery radish bite. I love them sliced and sautéed in some salted butter. You can also eat the green leafy tops of the radishes, which are high in fiber and are similar in flavor and texture to mustard greens and turnip tops.
We also plucked several leaves of gai lan (Chinese broccoli) and picked off a few pea shoots to mix with our radishes and (not our) Belgian endive for a healthy, almost-all-homegrown salad. I tossed it all together with a quick fish sauce-mustard vinaigrette.
Updates: A thief and some hope
The dog-hair trick we tried isn’t working as well as I’d hoped. Some gai lan-loving critter devoured a whole row of it last weekend, while leaving a whole other row intact. But, our slow-growing carrots and beets made some nice progress, and I remain cautiously optimistic that they will give us something to harvest in due time.
Meanwhile, let’s celebrate the radish, shall we?
Recipe: Sautéed Radish Toast
Not a lot to this simple stuff-on-toast recipe. But it incorporates the whole plant — leaf to root — and it is buttery and crunchy and delicious, so I am sharing it with you here. Enjoy!
Sautéed Radish Toast
Serves 2
1 bunch (8-10) French breakfast radishes
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 bread slices, toasted
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Slice the radishes into thin coins, and roughly chop their green leafy tops.
2. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Add the radishes and their greens, and sauté until just heated through and the greens begin to wilt, about 3-4 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, add lemon juice, and stir to combine.
3. Top the toast slices with sautéed radish mixture. Season with salt and pepper.