Roasted radishes with dates, apples, and radish tops
By Joshua McFadden in Six SeasonsSubmitted and adapted by Anastasia, Carnegie Hill CSA. This is one of my favorite fancy-salad recipes, and one my family loves to make when spring radish varieties are in season. The combination of delicate radishes, crisp apples, sweet dates, crunchy almonds, bright greens, and tart vinegar elevates this salad to main-dish status. It’s easy enough to make for a weekday dinner, and surprises and delights guests at dinner parties. And, since this is a root-to-tip recipe, I feel good knowing that I won’t have to rack my brain for any radish-greens dishes at the end of the week. It comes from the brilliant and seasonally-minded Joshua McFadden. The original recipe calls for grilling the radishes, but since many of our CSA members don’t have a grill (myself included), I adapted it to be suited to a small city kitchen.
Ingredients
- 1 bunch spring radishes, with tops
- extra virgin olive oil
- kosher salt
- black pepper, freshly ground if possible
- dried chile flakes
- red or white wine vinegar
- 4 oz pitted dates, chopped into small bits
- 1 apple, halved, cored, and thinly sliced
- ½ small red onion, thinly sliced
- ½ cup lightly-packed flat leaf parsley leaves (stems removed)
- ½ cup roughly chopped toasted almonds
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 450 F.
- Cut radish greens from the bunch of radishes and wash well in cool water.
- Scrub and trim the radishes. Roast them in the oven whole, with no oil, for 15-20 minutes (depending on your oven), turning them halfway. They are done when they are slightly soft when squeezed. Let the radishes cool, then cut them in half.
- While the radishes cook, prepare the radish greens.Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and when it’s hot, add the greens. Toss until the greens are slightly wilted. Season with salt, pepper,and a few chile flakes and cook for another few seconds, until the greens are tender.
- When the greens are cool enough to handle (but still warm), roughly chop them, then put them into a bowl. Douse with a couple teaspoons of vinegar and toss to blend. Taste and adjust the vinegar and seasonings. When the flavors are bright and balanced, toss with a little more olive oil. Set aside.
- Toss the halved radishes in a large bowl with the dates, apple, onion, marinated radish tops, and parsley. Add ¼ cup vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, a generous amount of black pepper, and if you like heat, another ½ teaspoon of chile flakes. Toss again, taste, and adjust the seasoning if needed. Add ¼ cup olive oil and the toasted almonds, toss again, taste again, and make any final adjustments to the seasoning.
Notes
Variations: If you don’t have radish greens, any cooking green will work here.
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