The under-rated radish
Rather like beetroot, radishes were
not really in favour in the Orange household. Until recently, I’m not sure that
I’d ever deliberately bought radishes. That all changed this weekend. Radish
are available – in season, of course – everywhere in France, on the markets, in
all the supermarkets and growing in the locals’ potagers. So, I can only conclude
that the locals like them, probably for the pretty assiette known as salad
composée. An assortment of carefully arranged vegetable, drizzled with vinaigrette.
I’m not against radishes, in fact, I have fond childhood memories of my Granny’s
allotment radishes, served whole with a heap of salt on the side of the plate.
According to Wiki, a wide variety
of radishes are grown worldwide, and almost always served as a raw salad
vegetable. They’re from the brassicaceae family that also includes broccoli,
cabbage, kale and turnips. The history of the radish is a bit light on facts,
but it seems to have originated in south-east Asia and made its way to Europe
with the Romans.
At only 16 calories per 100 grams
you’re not going to get fat eating radish; it’s one of those vegetables that
uses more calories to eat than it contains! Radish is said to be good for the
liver and stomach as it contains anti-oxidants and high levels of vitamin C –
18% of the UK recommended daily allowance. It’s also said to have anti-cancer and
detoxing attributes.
In my quest to improve our
lunchtime menu, whilst at the same time reducing costs, I decided to brighten up
last week’s successful potato salad with the addition of radishes. This was a
triumph, but it only needed two or three finely sliced specimens to add an extra
layer of mustardy flavour. I then moved on to develop two more salads: Radish
with sliced spring onion and a ‘Russian’ salad which exchanged the spring onion
for diced cucumber and added dill. I dressed both with a mayo-type mix of soya
yoghurt, tahini, lemon juice and salt.
After preparing a few salads (and
still not having used up the whole bunch of radishes) I wondered if it were possible
to cook them. The answer was a resounding, yes. During the course of my
research I came across a great website from some UK radish growers. It extolls the virtues of radish, and has some great recipes, too, which I’ll
be exploring with the next bunch of radishes. But it was in the Guardian’s food
pages that I discovered a great recipe for Roasted Radish with an Egyptian dukkah
dip. With a few tweaks I’ve added this to the warm salad repertoire.
Middle Eastern Warm Radish Salad
A bunch of radishes, cleanedSalad ingredients of choice: lettuce, tomatoes, diced cucumber, sliced peppers, avocado
Fresh lemon
Olive oil
Salad dressing of choice: lemon, olive oil and salt works well
Dukkah
1. First, pre-heat the oven to 190c (fan). Clean the
radishes, remove any hairy bits and make sure they are dry
2. Toss the radishes in 1 tbsp of olive oil, season and spread
on a baking tray. Cook for about 15 minutes
3. Meanwhile, assemble salads. Line bowls with chopped
lettuce, top with sliced tomatoes, diced cucumber, sliced red and yellow
peppers, sliced avocado (whatever is to hand) and dress with a light olive oil
and lemon dressing
4. When the radishes are soft and golden, remove from
oven and squeeze over a little fresh lemon juice
5. Place the radishes on top of the prepared salad bowls
and sprinkle with two or three tablespoons of Dukkah.
6. Have a small bowl of dukkah on the table to ‘dunk’
radishes in too, if preferred
Dukkah
Toast, as appropriate, the following ingredients, then
mix together and keep in an airtight container. Use as a salad topping, dressing,
or dip.
Toast in a dry frying pan, then crush in pestle and
mortar:
3 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds1 tsp fennel seeds
Toast, then chop finely (in grinder/ processor):
75g hazelnuts
Toast but leave whole:
75g sesame seeds1 heaped tbsp. pumpkin seeds
Add to the final mix and stir well:
1
tsp smoked paprikaSalt, as required to taste
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