Rediscovering the Radish

"What's in Season" Column from the third week in May:

Radishes are one of the first vegetables available at Farmers’ Market in the spring.  That is because they are such quick growers.  Some varieties are ready for harvest just 25 days after planting.  I always tend to get carried away when I plant radishes and end up with an over-abundance so I am always looking for new ideas on how to put them to use.  My creativity so far has been pretty poor.  Slicing them in salads and eating them with vegetable dip has pretty much been the extent of my radish culinary skills. 

In an effort to get some new ideas, I often ask my customers how they plan on using their radishes when they get them home.  The two aforementioned purposes are the most common response.  Apparently, most people are just as boring as I am when it comes to preparing radishes.  However, one other response that I get on occasion is to eat them sliced on a sandwich with mayonnaise.  Quite frankly, it never sounded too appealing to me, but I finally tried it and actually enjoyed it.  Still, I think there must be creative cooks out there who have all sorts of fascinating uses for radishes that I have yet to discover.  If you know any, please send them my way.

            When I was in college I lived in a house with seven other girls.  As you can image, living with that many females in one place can be quite an interesting experience, but I’m proud to say we are all still best friends to this day in spite of being dispersed across different states and countries.  Our college house was nicknamed “Gypsy Central” and we were all known as the “Gypsy Girls.”  So, last fall when I made a trip to Pittsburgh to visit some of the girls, we ate lunch at a cute little restaurant called The Gypsy Café.  I was really impressed with the use of seasonal ingredients in their menu.  There was a radish appetizer on the menu, so of course, in my quest for finding a new way to utilize radishes, I had to order it.  I was really intrigued when it came—it was a spread served with crackers.  It was kind of the consistency of relish and it was so tasty.  Finally, I had found a great new way to serve radishes.  I asked how it was made but they did not give me much information except that it contained a small amount of mayo, sour cream, and Swiss cheese.  I have attempted to re-create this delicious spread.  I’m sorry, Gypsy Café, if it has turned out nothing like yours, but it tastes great to me.

Kristen’s Gypsy Radish Relish

·         1 cup finely chopped Radishes (about 12)

·         1 cup finely grated Swiss Cheese

·         ¼ cup Hellman’s Mayonnaise

·         2 Tablespoons Sour Cream

·         Lawry’s Seasoned Salt to taste

Finely chop the radishes (I did mine in the food processor) and finely grate the Swiss cheese.  Mix with mayo, sour cream, and Lawry’s.  Serve with crackers.