Honey Roasted Radishes With Balsamic Drizzle

One of the first vegetables of the summer harvest, radishes are a welcome fresh taste to kick off the farmer's market season. At Ghost House Farm this season, they are growing French Breakfast and Rover radishes. True to their name, these French Breakfast radishes were popularized in 19th-century Parisian markets as a morning snack. The classic French preparation involves slicing them in half lengthwise, slathering the crisp root in butter, and dusting them with a pinch of flaky sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. They are known for their crisp texture and mild, slightly sweet peppery flavor. It is less spicy than the Rover radish, which has more of a medium bite. Both are delicious!

People often ask what they can do with radishes besides using them in salad. Besides the aforementioned French breakfast snack, they are delicious roasted. If you are nervous about spicy food, roasting radishes mellows their bite and their natural sugars caramelize, turning the crunchy roots into tender, mildly sweet morsels. I like to amp this up a little with some honey and a trickle of balsamic vinegar. Either French Breakfast or Rover radishes can be used in this recipe. If you have the greens available, they are also delicious roasted into chips along with the radishes for a nice contrast.

Here's the before and after:

before

after

Honey Roasted Radishes With Balsamic Drizzle

serves 4

1 bunch radishes (about ¾ pound), tails removed, greens trimmed and reserved (if available), and bulbs halved stem to tail

1 ½ T. extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 T. honey

2 T. balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If your radishes have fresh-looking greens, wash and dry them well. On a sheet pan, toss the radishes and greens with the oil. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange the radishes cut side down. If you're not using the greens, you can roast them in a cast iron skillet.

Roast until the radishes are crisp-tender and translucent, the cut sides are golden in spots and the greens are crisp, 15 to 20 minutes. Add honey and gently stir to coat. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Salad Days: Dorothy Lynch Salad Dressing

Back when I lived downstate and was working for Ford, I visited a shock absorber plant for work in the middle of Nebraska, and the plant employed many farmer's wives.   They put together a cookbook for their 35th anniversary of the plant, and many of the ladies had crock pots bubbling away at their work stations, making lunch to share.   They gave me a copy of their cookbook, which has plenty of hearty down home recipes in it, including copper penny carrots, which is a carrot salad dressed with a local favorite salad dressing that is simply called "Dorothy Lynch".   When you go to a restaurant in Nebraska and order a salad, they will ask you what kind of dressing you want ....they have the usual suspects like Italian, Ranch, etc., but they also have "Dorothy Lynch".    I had to try it and it was delicious!  It's like French dressing with a kick. I understand there really was a Dorothy Lynch. In the late 1940s, Dorothy and her husband ran the restaurant at the local Legion Club in St. Paul, Nebraska. The Legion Club members were introduced to this delicious recipe, the legend of Dorothy Lynch began to grow and the dressing fast became a "must-have" favorite. Stories of local people bringing their own bottle or jug to town to have it filled with "that delicious Dorothy Lynch salad dressing" were quite common. It's now made commercially, but I've never seen it for sale here in Michigan.  

Don't be put off by the fact that it's got canned tomato soup in it, it is really good.

Dorothy Lynch Dressing

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vinegar

1 teaspoon dry mustard powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon celery seeds

1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix tomato soup, vegetable oil, sugar, vinegar, dry mustard, salt, celery seeds, black pepper, and garlic powder in a large jar with a lid and shake...serve immediately or refrigerate overnight for best flavor.  To make the carrot salad:

Copper Penny Salad

2 lbs carrots, peeled, cooked whole and cooled, then sliced thin into coins

1 small green pepper diced

2 medium sized onions, sliced thin

Mix vegetables together, and dress with Dorothy Lynch dressing. 

Salad Days: Paprika Salad Dressing

Romaine lettuce, Ghost House Farm, Hancock MI

I have to admit, I have a fascination with the women’s sections of the old farming magazines.   As a result, I have a big collection of Farm Journal cookbooks that I have picked up at garage sales over time.    And I also have a collection of vintage Taste of Home cookbooks, which is what happened when publisher Roy Reiman realized he needed to create a cooking magazine which utilized the same philosophy of reader-contributed content as his farming magazines.  I first became aware of those magazines in the mid 90s when there were several of them laying around the ladies room at Ford.    As a working mom, I spent a lot of time in the ladies room lounge area pumping breastmilk and reading Taste of Home.   At it’s height, TOH had a test kitchen and a restaurant in its HQ In Greendale, WI.   The magazine was famous for not having ads, but when it sold out to Readers Digest, it totally changed and isn’t what it once was.  

I have the annual cookbook from every year the “old style”  TOH was published.  I  still love to read the corny head notes for each recipe.  Ladies are always promising great things from the recipes they have submitted.  A recipe for paprika salad dressing from 2002 caught my eye....Sharon Nichols from Brookings, SD assures me that "fresh greens really perk up with this zesty homemade dressing".    I decided to jazz her recipe up with some apple cider vinegar and honey and smoked instead of sweet paprika.   Plus more hot sauce. It is spectacular!

Paprika Salad Dressing

1/2 c sour cream

1/4 c mayonnaise

2 T steak sauce

1/4 t kosher salt

1/2 t smoked paprika

1/4 t celery seed

1/2 t Tabasco sauce

1 T. honey

2 T. apple cider vinegar

Put all ingredients in a jar and shake until well blended.