We’ve been having so much rain lately, it’s starting to make me think I’m living in Seattle. Hmph.
Radishes — Serve these thinly sliced, with bread, butter and a little salt. Heaven in three bites. Also good roasted with some olive oil, chopped mint, salt and pepper.
Japanese turnips — Their uses are myriad: as a velouté (or cream soup) or in salads. They’re wonderful roasted, with beets and carrots, and topped with a poached egg. The greens do double duty. Sliver garlic, sauté until lightly golden, add the greens, some toasted pine nuts, golden raisins and chopped oregano. Toss for a couple of seconds, check seasoning and serve as a side dish. Or use the greens with polenta or in pasta.
Beets
Sugar snap peas — Glaze them with a little unsalted butter, lemon juice for brightness, salt and pepper. Sauté in either unsalted butter or olive oil, add some scallions, chopped shallots or green garlic and chopped herbs. Toss with slivered asparagus tips, fava beans, mint and soft-boiled egg for a spring or summer salad. Or eat them raw — they’re better than candy.
This week’s menu:
Saturday: Spaghetti with turnip greens, garlic, pine nuts and raisins
Sunday: Leftovers most likely
Monday: Ricotta gnocchi with golden beets and zucchini
Tuesday: Tomato risotto
Wednesday: ??? — Depends on what looks good at the fish market
Thursday: Chard with garlic, olive oil and lemon; plain egg omelette, baguette
Friday: Polpetti (beef and pork meatballs) simmered in broth, served with angel hair and vegetables
Of course, all of this is subject to change. Half of the fun is in the planning. The other half is anticipation.
Those are some beautiful pictures of that produce. I would kill to find some French breakfast radishes around here in the farmers’ market. It’s a shame that there’s so much rain, though. Soggy produce isn’t exactly the tastiest…
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Hi and thanks for stopping by.
I’m hoping the weather improves dramatically as the weeks progress. Autumn harvest probably won’t be as good as last year due to all the rain we’ve been having, but we’ll see.
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Umm…radishes! I have come to love grilling them, or roasting them on the grill. With yummy spices…red pepper flakes, balsamic, garlic…..delicious.
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Hi, Arnie.
I live in a Manhattan-shoebox-sized apartment so grilling isn’t doable for me. That’s one of the reasons you hardly see anything using that cooking technique on this blog.
I picked up some French breakfast radishes last weekend, along with some sugar snap peas. Those will feature in a salad later this week, with some ricotta salata. Note that ricotta salata is NOT the same cheese used in lasagna.
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