I had joined this ‘Mystery Bag’ event at a local family farm and had been really pretty pleased with what I got for ten dollars:
•A bag of sugar snap peas that made for a fine stir fry
•A couple of ears of corn, perfect for roasting
•One large, very tasty muskmelon
•And, among other things, a nice bundle of radishes…
(!)
What to do?
Growing up, radishes had always just been a part of a salad, sliced or, for fancy occasions, cut into little crown like shapes. Still, I know there had to be more…
A bit of research gave me a delicious answer from the barefoot contessa, who, I have to say, has never yet let me down. The contessa recommended serving the radishes whole on a bed of sea salt with some herbed butter and a nice baguette on the side.
I was liking the concept, but felt the need to make a few changes, like turning it all into a radish and herbed butter sammich on lightly toasted mini-baguettes.
Good decision! The sammiches were really tasty, with the salted, seasoned butter playing nicely with the peppery bite of the radish slices, and all of it kind of oozing into the nooks and crannies of the lightly toasted bread. You are gonna want to make you a couple of these.
INGREDIENTS
Sammich:
•Sliced Radishes
•Baguette
•Herbed butter
Herbed Butter:
•4 oz butter, softened
•2 tsp minced fresh chive
•1-1/2 tsp minced fresh parsley
•1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
•1/2 tsp sea salt
•1/4 tsp black pepper
The method is dead simple:
Combine the herbed butter ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
Lightly toast a baguette (I used mini baguettes from my gorcer’s bakery), then spread with the butter, arrange a layer of sliced radishes over the top, and serve.
I had mine with some of that fine muskmelon on the side seasoned with a bit of freshly ground black pepper and thought myself quite well served.
I’m also thinking that this could make for a very nice, and different, take on cocktail sammiches, on fun shaped party bread mebbe, and with the radishes and herbed butter standing in for the cucumbers and mayonnaise.