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You are here: Home / Recipes / Gluten-free / Glazed radishes on garlicky radish greens

Glazed radishes on garlicky radish greens

by Jeanne Horak on July 3, 2013 18 Comments in Gluten-free, Vegetable side dishes, Vegetarian

GlazedRadishesTitle © J Horak-Druiff 2013

A few years ago, I used to run a blogging event together with by blogging BFFs Andrew and Johanna.  Some of you may remember it: Waiter, There’s Something in My…  Every month we came up with a theme and asked people to make dish that fit in with the theme.  Some were easy:  soup with bits in it (bacon, croutons, you name it); pies; layer cakes. Some were a little more challenging, like meat-free barbecue dishes.  But the one than threw people the most was the sweet/savoury swap.  I came up with the idea to have a theme where people made a traditionally sweet dish from savoury ingredients, or vice versa.  My head was buzzing with inspiration: sweet pizzas or risottos; and savoury tarte tatins or pannacottas.  My own contribution was a heavenly savoury caprese bread and butter pudding – but judging by the number of confused e-mails I received, many other people were simply stumped.

It’s a funny thing, the way we draw a distinction between the sweet and the savoury; the rigid rules of eating savoury food before sweet, and the strict classification in our minds of foods as being traditionally sweet or traditionally savoury.  It’s also surprisingly hard to move things between these categories.  Sure, there are some savoury sorbets and ice-creams being served in fine dining restaurants, but generally speaking I think it is safe to say that ice-cream will always be a predominantly sweet food.  In a similar vein, however wonderful cinnamon sugar potato crisps might be, I suspect that crisps will always be a predominantly savoury food.

 

RadhisesDirty1 © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

Consider the humble radish.  They’re the cute, peppery little things that are de rigeur in every aspirant food stylist’s fridge (together with pea shoots…!), to be sliced wafer thin on an expensive mandolin and scattered over floral napkins and plates of salad too pretty to eat, right? 😉  Their peppery flavour puts them squarely in the savoury camp, and their prettiness puts them in the garnish rather than the star ingredient camp.  Agreed? Well, not entirely.

Last September we went to France for a friend’s birthday, shopping at the local market and then heading home to cook lavish feasts and drink litres of local wine. Being in the south-west of France, of course there was duck in many forms (foie gras, rillettes, smoked breasts) as well as the usual cornucopia of saucisson and blindingly good cheeses.  But there was also an abundance of fresh produce – tomatoes that smelt of the sun, blushing apricots with furry cheeks, mushrooms that smelt of deep forests, and bristling bunches of those elongated radishes you somehow only tend to find on the continent. When my friend Val picked up a big bunch, I was surprised. “Surely we aren’t going to have THAT many salads before we leave?”.  She just smiled mysteriously and stashed the radishes in her shopping basket. When we got back to the house, she simmered the now-topless radishes in a sweet/salty broth until they softened and the broth turned to syrup, and then served them on top of their own greens, quickly sautéed in butter and garlic.  It was one of the most revelatory dishes I have ever eaten and I could not wait to try it in my own kitchen.

 

GlazedRadishDiptych © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

But as I discovered, long French radishes with greens still attached are considerably harder to find in London supermarkets than they are in rural French markets.  Most supermarkets here sell only the teensy round radishes in sad little sealed plastic packets, and they are trimmed to within an inch of their lives – not a green in sight.  Now normal people would get around this by simply looking for a local farmers’ market.  But not my husband.  No – his solution was to acquire a giant allotment covered in brambles and slowly beat it into submission to create a suitable place to grow radishes.

Overachiever.

 

RadishePlants © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

The Allotment Diaries warrant their own blog post – but suffice to say that from the start, I made it clear that I already have one excessively time consuming hobby (the one you’re reading right now) and I don’t need another.  But Nick did persuade me at least to propagate some seeds for him, and soon I was cooing over trays of itty bitty baby lettuces, zucchini, broad beans, artichokes – and these nascent radishes with their little heart-shaped leaves. Within 3 weeks of putting the seeds in the trays, we were harvesting them.  Can’t fault radishes in terms of near-instant gratification! And how very different they were to the poor anaemic supermarket cousins.  Robust, positively rude-looking bulbs of small carrot proportions; a bushy head of greens, too prickly for even the slugs to want to nibble on; and more clingy damp earth than you can shake a stick at. But as fresh as it’s possible to get and assertively mustardy.

 

RadishesDirty2 © J Horak-Druiff 2013

 

The recipe is a bit of a faff, requiring separate cooking of the bulbs and the greens, as well as careful washing if you grow your own like we did, but it makes up for this a hundredfold in terms of flavour and sheer novelty. The radishes lose their overt sinus-clearing mustardiness while retaining a good deal of their texture, and their glazed salt/sweetness is beautifully counter-balanced by the slightly bitter greens.  If you can get your hands on enough of them, serve the radishes as a substantial vegetable side dish.  If you can’t source enough long French radishes, get yourself an allotment and an energetic husband 😉

 Other bloggers cooking with radishes include:

  • Kalyn, who roasted radishes with soy sauce & sesame seeds
  • Margot, who makes steamed sprouting broccoli with radishes
  • Michelle, who puts them into a fattoush salad

 

 

 

GlazedRadishesFinal © J Horak-Druiff

 

5.0 from 2 reviews
Glazed radishes on garlicky radish greens
 
Print
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
10 mins
Total time
25 mins
 
If you thought radishes were only for salads, this recipe will change your mind forever. Pretty, and with a sweet-salty umami flavour, the dish also gets bonus points for using the radish greens.
Author: Jeanne Horak-Druiff
Recipe type: Vegetable side
Cuisine: French
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 large bunch of long French-style radishes (or round ones) with leaves attached
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • water
  • 1 chicken or vegetable stock cube
  • 2 Tbsp caster sugar
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 Tbsp butter
Instructions
  1. Cut the leaves off the radishes and reserve. Scrub the radishes if they have soil still attached and cut off any trailing roots. If they are large, each radish can be cut into 3-4cm chunks.
  2. Heat 1Tbsp of butter in a frying pan large enough that the radishes will fit snugly into it in a single layer. When the butter is melted, add the radishes and sautée for a few minutes, stirring all the time as they tend to stick.
  3. Add just enough water to cover the radishes. Stir in a stock cube and the sugar until fully dissolved. Allow to simmer.
  4. In the meantime, carefully wash the radish leaves and crush the garlic. Heat 1 Tbsp of butter in a fresh pan until it bubbles.
  5. Add the garlic and greens and stir rapidly until they are wilted and no longer prickly (like spinach, they will cook down to almost nothing). Keep warm.
  6. When the liquid in the radish pan has reduced to a syrupy consistency, the radishes are ready to serve (about 5-10 minutes).
  7. Plate the greens, then serve the radishes on top of them and pour any remaining syrup over.
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  1. Andrew says

    July 3, 2013 at 6:20 pm

    Them were the days… Waiter, There’s Something In My… happy times.

    I like radishes. Not sure why I’m not growing any this year. Foolishness.

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      July 5, 2013 at 2:09 pm

      I know… seems like so long ago! We managed to keep it going for rather a long time too. Pity that the interwebs moved on. Nobody in their right mind would create an event with a name like that in these less frivolous, more commercially savvy (read: boring!) times. ANd fear not! It’s not too late to grow radishes! Start this weekend and by August you will be feasting 🙂

      Reply
  2. Margot @ Coffee & Vanilla says

    July 4, 2013 at 2:33 pm

    Oh, I love cooked radishes. First time I’ve tried them in France… on the Eurostar trip where I met Michelle 😉

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      July 5, 2013 at 2:10 pm

      Oh – what a coincidence! 🙂 I’d never considered cooked radishes till my friend served them up like this, and now I’m addicted!

      Reply
  3. Kit says

    July 4, 2013 at 3:30 pm

    Yes fond memories of WTSIM – I still have it as a tag on my blog and that sweet/savoury reverse was one of my favourites!

    We grow radishes, but they are the round ones – I’ve never come across those long French ones. They tend to grow so fast that we always have a ridiculous excess and they get big and tough before we can eat them all. I’ll have to try this recipe when the next lot are the right size. OUr rabbits and tortoises are the only ones eating the overgrown James and the Giant Peach style monsters that are currently growing in the veggie garden. Even the pestilential kangaroo mice that have devastated the carrots in the next row don’t touch the radishes.

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      July 5, 2013 at 2:11 pm

      Aaah, good times, good times. I also still have it as a category on my blog! Can’t recommend this recipe enough – going to try my hand at growing watermelon radishes next. And kangaroo mice?? Whaaaaaat??

      Reply
  4. Rosa says

    July 4, 2013 at 7:17 pm

    Scrumptious! Radish greens are so tasty too.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      July 5, 2013 at 2:12 pm

      I know – and most people just toss them in the trash! I love the “nose to tail eating” aspect of this recipe almost as much as I love the taste 🙂

      Reply
  5. Solange says

    July 4, 2013 at 11:15 pm

    I know it ‘s a long time since I moved to England but I have never heard or ever seen cooked radishes. You are making this up 😉

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      July 5, 2013 at 2:13 pm

      Really? You’re missing out, I tell you! It’s The Next Big Thing 😉

      Reply
    • Jeanne says

      August 15, 2013 at 4:25 pm

      LOL – suspend your disbelief and make these babies!

      Reply
  6. Francoise Murat says

    July 5, 2013 at 8:15 am

    Have printed and making tonight! I overdid it with the radishes but I use them as weed suppressants around the veg so they get used or they work for me 🙂
    Can’t wait to try this as I grow 5 different sorts and the long ones can be found in any garden centres just called French radishes I think. I have also tried Candela di Fuoco, an Italian variety that grows like carrots, fiery and a bit hairy with roots on the side but really really delich! Thanks for sharing Jeanne!

    Reply
    • Jeanne says

      July 5, 2013 at 2:14 pm

      Woo hoo – tell me how the recipe turns out!

      Intrigued by the Candela di Fuoco too (what a name!) – anywhere in particular on line you’d recommend for buyhing seeds? Also keen to plant some watermelon radishes! We’re on a radish roll 😉

      Reply
    • Jeanne says

      August 15, 2013 at 4:25 pm

      We are planting them in volleys a few weeks apart so that we can eat them throughout the season – loving it!Five sorts is truly impressive – I think our neighbour gave us a bunch of Canela di Fuoco – they were like small, hairy red carrots – delish. Glad to hear you tried the recipe 🙂

      Reply
  7. Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says

    July 11, 2013 at 4:08 am

    I always get excited when I spy French radishes at the market, they are my favorite!

    Reply
  8. Meeta says

    July 11, 2013 at 6:50 pm

    These types of radishes are a French thing .. in Germany we mostly get the round ones but thankfully with their leaves still on. The recipe does sound extremely interesting … like that sweet kick to it.
    Waiter there is something in my …. remember it and we should do a revival!!

    Reply
  9. Jaclyn says

    October 4, 2013 at 1:19 pm

    Thanks so much for this link, Jeanne – I’m definitely going to give this recipe a whirl, as I’ve never eaten cooked radishes before, nor their greens. Seems I’ve been missing out in a big way indeed, so thanks for the education!

    Happy weekend,
    Jaclyn

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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