Our yard share is rocking, as you can see. We’re knee deep in radishes, beet greens, bok choy, arugula, and an assortment of lettuces. The tomato plants are getting unwieldy, the peppers are flowering, the potatoes are taking over, the corn is getting high, and the groundhogs have miraculously stayed away from the beans, okra, and squash. We accidentally ended up with some datura in the tomato beds, which is fine because they are huge and gorgeous, and there are a few random cucumber and squash plants that have come up from the compost.
I can barely keep up with the radishes, and that’s saying a lot. Raw and peppery with a sprinkle of sea salt or sauteed with garlic and butter, I love a good radish. I’m a firm believer in eating every part of a vegetable that’s edible: broccoli stalks chopped into stir fry, onion skins thrown into homemade broth, carrot tops stirred into wilted greens. You name it, I’ll eat it, as long as it’s not poisonous. (Some leaves are, so please check first!)
Radish leaves are awesome lightly sauteed and used in place of any other green. Last night I threw them into a potato salad with a creole mustard vinaigrette, but what I want to introduce you to today is radish-leaf soup. It’s simple and satisfying, like a spring-inspired potato soup.
Radish-leaf soup
- 1 tbs butter
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 red potatoes, chopped
- 2 bunches radish leaves, washed and roughly chopped
- 3 red potatoes, chopped
- 2-3 cups water
- 1/2 cup milk or soy milk
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Hot sauce for drizzling
Melt butter in a warm pan and add onion and garlic. Saute about five minutes before adding potatoes and greens. Let the veggies cook a few minutes and add water. Simmer until the potatoes are tender. Puree with a hand blender. I don’t like to puree it completely since I prefer a little texture in my soup, but you do whatever you want. Stir in the milk and season to taste. If you want, pour a few drops of good hot sauce (Louisiana is an excellent choice) onto your bowl. You can even top it with minced radishes or green onions if you want to be fancy. This recipe should serve four.
Now for the radishes themselves. The classic way to eat radishes is to slather a piece of good bread with the best butter you can find, lay thinly sliced radishes across the top, and sprinkle with sea salt. This is a perfect 93-degrees-in-spring snack. (On a side note, are you experiencing this crazy hot spring we’ve got down here? It was hot as Hades in the middle of May, and it’s actually supposed to be 93 tomorrow. I’m going to Minneapolis next week, and it can’t come soon enough.)
But here’s a little something else I like to do with radishes. Let’s call it garlicky radish spread.
Garlicky radish spread
- 1 bunch radishes, minced or grated
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- Juice of half a lemon
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Fresh dill, if you feel like it
Mix the radishes and garlic into the cream cheese. Add the lemon juice and season to taste. If you want to add dill, chop it up and add it already. Let sit a couple hours so the flavors can mingle. Serve on Swedish rye crackers (my personal favorite) or any other cracker you want. This is also good on toasted bread with sliced cucumbers.
And if you don’t like radishes after all that, well, I don’t know what to do with you. Thing of their peppery bite as an acquired taste, like when you first started drinking wine, and learn to love them. You’ll thank me someday.
papaver 