‘Tis The Season: Radishes

Go out to eat these days and chances are you’ll encounter a radish. The plant, which is part of the brassica family, is bountiful in the spring. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve eaten radishes at Potager, Trillium, and Z Cuisine. As a whole, the eateries have served small, young bulbs to capitalize on their mild peppery snap. At Potager, Isabelle Farm radishes came in classic French style: with sea salt and a small ramekin of butter for dipping. But the kitchen dressed up the preparation by roasting the root vegetables until just tender. The butter melted on contact, making the appetizer feel like a decadent celebration of spring.

Elsewhere, matchstick-size pieces of the stunning red-green-white watermelon radish decorated a beet salad at Trillium. I ate them sliced fresh on top of Z Cuisine’s burrata and strawberry salad, as well as cooked alongside the French restaurant’s smoked grouper fricassee.

Back at home, with friends coming over, I pulled a couple radishes from the garden and sliced them over butter-smeared pieces of levain from Grateful Bread. I topped the rounds with Maldon sea salt and lemon zest—and watched them disappear.

Bonus: Ruminate on the simple beauty of the radish by ogling Tifamade’s photo-forward blog.

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—Photo via Shutterstock