Radishes make for delicious eating, freshly picked from the garden. One of my favourite ways to enjoy them is as a vegetable side to a meal.
Blanch them until they’re just soft, like you would cook a potato. Toss them in butter with some cracked pepper, a little bit of salt and voilà! A nutritious accompaniment, made in a flash.
Another great dish to make is this easy, colourful and delicious radish and beetroot salad.
In my garden, I have three varieties growing – French Breakfast, Pink Beauty and Cherry Belle. They are vibrant and all have a slightly different shape and shade of pink. Together, they look incredible.
Roughly chop your radishes – I like a bit of variation in size and shape, but I try to keep them roughly within the same size. Throw them into a pot of cold water, add some salt and bring it to a simmer.
Once they’re soft, drain and plunge the radishes into ice water to cool them down. Don’t leave them for too long, or that ice water will start to take the salt and flavour out of your radishes. As soon as they’re around room temperature, dry them off in a clean tea towel. You want to get them as dry as possible, otherwise you’ll water down the dressing. Finely slice a stripy beetroot – no cooking necessary – with a potato peeler or sharp knife.
Now it’s time to dress the salad. Because the radishes are such a beautiful colour, I use a white balsamic vinegar, rather than a traditional dark.
Add a drizzle of the vinegar, a splash of olive oil, some salt flakes to season and a few basil leaves. I’ve used regular green leaves, as well as dark opal basil.
Toss the salad together, but be careful not to mash, and transfer it to a plate, giving it a bit of height for presentation. And that’s it, you’re done!
Radishes make for delicious eating, freshly picked from the garden.
Simon’s gardener Ken says:
Ken Nicoll of Total Garden Care keeps Simon’s garden in order.
“If you have a small space in your garden that will be vacant for a few weeks, try radishes.
Prepare the soil as you would for the average vegetable plant, but make sure you leave a layer of nice fine soil for the seed to germinate in.
If your soil conditions hinder the growth too much, the slow development could leave you with tough and woody radishes.
I don’t bother growing them in summer because they tend to bolt in heat and don’t form a bulb. This can also happen if your seed is sown too thick, so thin your seed to 80-100mm.
If they don’t get a constant water supply, the bulbs can look good above ground, but be split at least halfway up. After heavy downpours broke the drought, the number of cracked radishes at Simon’s increased from none to around one in 10.
They will also need several hours of sunlight a day to develop properly.”
