This is a riff on that beautiful appetizer seen so often in the South of France. If you have ever been, you will know that radishes are served with fresh butter and flaky salt (and a bottle or two of Rose’).
I was looking for a different side vegetable for my Easter dinner, and I had some radishes in the fridge which were a bit tired looking, so I decided to reinvent that appetizer to serve as a vegetable for my meal. 4 ingredients including the water and the salt. The other two are radishes and butter. The whole process start to finish takes 10 minutes max. The result is a colorful and sweet vegetable that will surprise even the pickiest of eaters (read my husband).
Start with clean, clean, clean radishes. They are always very dirty when you purchase them, rinse them in several changes of cold water to remove the grit. Remove the greens and set aside. I like to leave the little squiggle things at the end and a bit of the green stem, but you can remove as you like. Try to keep them all the same size, if need be leave some whole and some sliced. It will make the cooking more even. Place your radishes in a sauce pan that has a lid, add butter (depending on how many radishes and how much you like butter, this is a very free flowing recipe) and a 2-3 tablespoons of water. Cover and bring to simmer over medium heat. When the radishes are softened so that a knife or cake tester goes through with some resistance, remove the cover and raise the heat to boil. The water will boil away and leave only the melted butter which will cause the radishes to brown. When finished, remove from pan, sprinkle with flaky sea salt and serve. That’s it. If you really want to go over the top, and you happen to have it on hand, you can replace the butter with either chicken or bacon fat, or my personal favorite, duck fat which I always have in the fridge because, well you never know when you want duck fat potatoes. Photo start to finish below.
Now about the greens. They can be served with a simple red red wine vinaigrette as a green along with the radishes and your meal. Or you can puree them with some walnuts and olive oil, a bit of red pepper flakes and a clove of garlic and make a sauce. Use them, they are tasty, peppery and a bit like arugula.
One more thing, don’t forget the Rose’.
Nibbles and Bits 