Have you caught the drift on cooked radishes? They seem to be turning up here and there, and as this is my Summer of Radish, I had to give it a try.First of all, let me explain. Oh, man. I eat radishes several times a week, usually on a snacky platter with other items such as cheese, olives, pate, like that. I admitted my radish love to myself this year, and have totally indulged. Always raw, usually sliced in half and swabbed with lovely butter then sprinkled with crunchy salt flakes. Eat eat eat. Radish radish radish. The radish guy at the farmers market loves me.
Anyway. So these cooked radishes keep popping up in the foodgeist. At first they were roasted (which sounds so elegant for some reason, even though it just means Put Radishes in Hot Box). Then I saw a reference to sauteed radishes, and. And! Why not? Don't have to turn on Hot Box.
These lovelies were quartered, lengthwise, and tossed with butter over gentle heat. You're not trying to get any Maillard on them. Just a trace of transparency. They even still had a little crunch. Salt and pepper.
Oh, my.
I will definitely do this again.
But I will sure as shootin' keep eating them raw, too.
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20 comments:
This post is a feast - glorious photo, Maillard (I learned something) and foodgeist, all in the same post! You da man, except you're a woman.
Zoomie: Hah. Well, my dear, I'm just trying to keep up with you.
I'm another big radish fan, and when I've tried cooking them I was quite surprised how it completely changed the flavor. I liked them a lot. Radishes are a winner, raw or cooked!
Kalyn: You know I love you. Raw or cooked. :)
crunchity crunch crunch~
Wow, my synapses just crackled adjusting to such a different way of thinking. Good on you Cookiecrumb!
Since my Grandma died this spring I have - for reasons I can't explain - been craving all the foods she cooked and enjoyed eating. (Went through a crazy watermelon & Rollkuchen phase this summer) She was the one person in my family who loved radishes. However, she only had them one way: sliced in salads.
I think I will head out to the produce market Tuesday to get some radishes to try with the butter & salt. Also want to try cooking them. Can't wait!
Mouse: I didn't expect them to still be crunchy. Bonus! Hot butter and crunch.
Shine: OMG, you are melting my heart. I know your grandma's penchant for radishes in salad. Dig this, though: My grandfather (probably a generation older than yours) DID eat radishes with butter. But not cooked. We are always open to new experiences.
Got one more for you: Compressed Watermelon. Use a vacuum sealer. How cool! I haven't tried it, but I'm really intrigued.
Rad radish photo!
Greg: Sometimes harsh Mother Nature is all you need. I was really worried when Cranky chose that bowl, but... all is well.
Thanks!
You do have them pickled every once in a while, right? :-)
they are awesome that way!
You are so strange,(Cooked??) I have never heard of butter and radish.
You can get a seed catalog and find numerous radishes to grow in the "Biggles Pit" in your yard. They groy like weeds, sort off.
I've never sauteed them but I do pickle them, along with turnips and garlic. In fact, I just cooked a bunch up last night. It's super simple - just clean, cut a strip off of the skin, simmer in a mixture of garlic, salt and chili pepper flakes, cool and eat. I put them in all sorts of things like potato salad or as a bit of a zip with my green salads. I think that my current favorite is spinach salad with the pickled radishes and turnips and an oil and vinegar dressing spiced up by the pickled garlic.
Vinegar rulz!
Sally BK: Well, gosh, no. I would absolutely love them pickled, and it just hasn't occurred to me. I'm planning on marinating some mushrooms soon; maybe help myself to some of that flavoring. Thanks!
Chilebrown: I am ashamed I don't grow my own radishes. I tried once and just got hair-thin roots.
But listen here, buster. Just because you haven't heard of butter on radishes doesn't make it weird. Google, silly.
Nancy: I have a sour tooth too! I will get right on this task.
Admission: I have in recent years become addicted to the more complex "crime" shows -- and I like Covert, too. Love the two guys on White Collar, and CSI is another fave. A friend has been a regular on Law&Order for years so I've followed her career there. Strange, since I've never read mysteries.
Your rads are lovely. Looking at the photo, I can almost taste them.
Kudzu: You are way ahead of me on the crime shows. I watched CSI a couple of times; good. Truth? I'm most addicted to House.
Have you read any of the Millennium trio? The writing is not great but it's good reading. (?)
Radishes -- damn, I should be growing them.
Oh, well -- of course! I was sticking to crime shows and House is no crime. Hugh Laurie is one of my main men.
I never had luck growing rads -- even though "they" suggest having children plant them because they are so easy to grow, blah, blah. Wonder why mine were so puny?
Fun to experiment with (purchased) Asian varieties, too.
I hope it's ok to include a link here (NOT from my own blog.... :-)
I made these last year and they were great, I bet you will love them too
http://teaandcookies.blogspot.com/2006/11/ruby-red-crunch.html
Kudzu: I really did grow radishes when I was a tot. It worked. I don't know what's wrong now; maybe too much estrogen. (Wait! That's over!)
Did you glimpse Hugh Laurie in Sense and Sensibility? He played a hen-pecked ass. Perfect. (And! He had a fling with Emma Thompson.)
Sally: Wonderful. I am actually friends with Tea. I had seen this post, but of course, I forgot. Thanks so much. Sounds delicious.
A couple of years ago my husband wanted to saute radishes and I just kind of looked at him like who'd ever do such a thing? He tried it and they were great. Bravo, Chris. It seems he was ahead of the curve and I was way behind.
Denise: That's pretty cool of your husband. And now that we are liberated on the concept of cooked radishes -- I am putting together a Vietnamese clay pot today of tofu and vegetables, and I've decided radishes are one of the vegetables!
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