{"id":11,"date":"2008-06-16T20:32:17","date_gmt":"2008-06-16T20:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/?p=6"},"modified":"2008-06-16T20:32:17","modified_gmt":"2008-06-16T20:32:17","slug":"radishal-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/radishal-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Radishal&#8221; Solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I always got after myself about radishes.  They&#8217;re one of the first fresh vegetables to come from the fields in spring, they&#8217;re pretty and plentiful&#8211;and almost always cheap.   But I couldn&#8217;t get myself to eat more than a sliver at a time.   I tried them again and again, with hopes of acquiring a taste for the peppery little buggers, but never met with success.  Until this spring.<\/p>\n<p>I discovered that their peppery taste could be toned down to a palatable level with a little light cooking.   It shouldn&#8217;t have taken so long to make the connection.   I had always loved daikon in miso soup, slightly crunchy and a tiny bit bitter, just enough to add some interest.<span> But not until this spring did I connect the dots: <\/span>Hmmm. . . daikon is a radish\u2014a long white Japanese one, but a radish nevertheless. . . .<span> <\/span>I like it in soup&#8211;and stir fries, come to think of it. . . . maybe the cooking is key . . . .<span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">So I began experimenting.   First an Asian-themed soup using watermelon radishes, then a hamburger skillet dish featuring plain old red radishes.<span> <\/span>Once cooked, they added just the right amount of zing.<span> <\/span>Last night, with no less than four bunches of radishes in the frig, I tried a radish salad based on a recipe included with one of my weekly produce deliveries.<span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">It was delicious!  Here\u2019s the recipe, but when you make it, don\u2019t throw out the radish tops as they\u2019re completely edible, too.<span> <\/span>More on that later. . .<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><strong>Asian Radish and Carrot Salad<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 small sweet onion (e.g., Vidalia or Walla   Walla)<\/li>\n<li>2 tsp. safflower or oil (or toasted sesame)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">In a large saut\u00e9 pan, heat the oil over medium heat until fairly hot, add onions and saut\u00e9 about 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.<span> <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 bunch radishes, cut into \u00bc\u201d matchsticks (2-3 cups of cut radishes)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Add to the onions and cook just 2-3 minutes, stirring a couple times.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>4 Tbsp. brown rice vinegar<\/li>\n<li>2 Tbsp. soy sauce<\/li>\n<li>1 Tbsp. agave nectar<\/li>\n<li>1 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil<\/li>\n<li>1 tsp. minced garlic (from a jar is fine)<\/li>\n<li>Freshly ground pepper, to taste<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">While vegetables cook, combine dressing ingredients in a medium-sized glass serving bowl.  Stir to combine thoroughly, then pour into vegetables.  Cook just 2-3 minutes then pour everything back into the glass serving bowl.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>3 med. carrots, julienned, then cut into roughly 2&#8243; lengths<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Toss with onion-radish mixture and serve at room temperature or chilled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><em>Notes:<\/em><span><em> <\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Onion:<span> <\/span>Although a sweet onion is called for, a yellow or red would also work; they just take a little more saut\u00e9ing to remove the raw-onion taste.<span> <\/span>Also, perfectly in season, would be green onions, which don\u2019t need much cooking at all.<span> <\/span>Throw them in the pan just before the radishes.<span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Radishes:<span> <\/span>I used regular Red Globe radishes, along with a fancier variety called d&#8217;Avignion .<span> <\/span>I imagine almost any kind would do, especially daikon.<span> <\/span>Cutting the little critters into matchsticks is the only time-consuming part of this recipe, but I can\u2019t think of a good substitute cut.<span> <\/span>Cut off both ends, then stand the radish up on one of the flat ends.<span> <\/span>Slice it vertically, then flip it over and cut vertically again to form \u201cmatchsticks\u201d about \u00bc\u201d square.<span> <\/span>Have them pretty well cut and ready to go before putting the onions on to cook.<span> <\/span>Otherwise, the onions will get overdone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Carrots:  The fastest way to julienne carrots is with a julienner, a hand tool that costs around $10.  Great investment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Skinny:  Radishes are a great springtime vegetable, but they can be harsh-tasting.  If you don&#8217;t have a taste for that taste, here\u2019s an option:  Try them cooked, as in this recipe for Asian Radish and Carrot Salad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,24,5,23],"tags":[97,122,349,466,567],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recipes","category-basic-healthy-cooking-techniques","category-food","category-seasonal-eating","tag-carrots","tag-cold-salads","tag-julienner","tag-radishes","tag-sweet-onions","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}