Spring Broccoli Salad with Radishes and Lime

Drain Veggies before Dressing

Recipe adapted from LoveRadish.co.uk

My husband and I will be traveling in England soon, so we hosted a Brit Night to hear stories and look at books and photos provided by our Anglophile friends. Of course, the menu needed to match the theme. My first attempt at Beef Wellington was a given, but being Californian at heart, I wanted to add a salad. “Traditional British salad” sounded like an oxymoron until I discovered LoveRadish.co.uk. This UK-based radish appreciation website contains scores of recipes for unusual salads as well as sandwiches, slaws, and snacks. Radishes are England’s first spring crop, and the harvest continues into mid-autumn. This salad pairs radishes with the early season harvests of purple sprouting broccoli, asparagus, and spring peas. Though we’re just past spring, I pushed the season by substituting frozen peas, with tasty results.

Spicy Cabbage, Tomato, and Radish Salad

Light and Summery Salad

Recipe from The Cooking Decade

Like the Thai Napa Cabbage Chicken Salad, I have no idea where this recipe came from. Unlike the Thai Salad, it’s a magazine clipping, not scribbled in my handwriting. This is another recipe from The Cooking Decade, a looseleaf binder of family recipes given to me by my sister Chris, who says she’s in her second non-cooking decade. You didn’t hear it from me, but she’s a fabulous cook when she chooses to be, and all of the recipes from her Cooking Decade have been triple tested and family approved. Plus this particular recipe is great for using up those tomatoes that are coming in like crazy right now.

Sweet and Spicy Marinated Radishes

The Alternative Burger Pickle

Recipe by Robin

As my doctor philosophized last week, we often have either too much of a good thing or not enough. This certainly seems true with radishes in a CSA share. Typically we receive a number of different radish varieties for several weeks, and then nothing. Although refrigerated radishes are hardy, they do deteriorate consistently as time goes by. An easy way to preserve them is to make simple refrigerator pickles.

Quick and Easy Chicken Soup

To Your Health

Recipe by Robin

Summertime colds seem so counterintuitive and unfair. Staying in bed shivering under blankets while everyone else is outdoors playing in the sun, swimming with the kids, or sipping cocktails at a barbecue just doesn’t seem right. So the other day when I felt a bit under the weather, I chose to nip the virus in the bud. In addition to getting extra rest and drinking ginger tea and lemon tea, I made chicken soup.

Ruby Root Vegetable Slaw with Miso Dressing

Colorful, Nutritious, and Delicious

Recipe by Robin, inspired by New Leaf Market

In my last post, I stated that carrots are more nutritious cooked than raw, because beta-carotene becomes more available after cooking. However, the reverse is true for vegetables high in Vitamin C, which are more nutritious eaten raw. Eating a mixture of raw and cooked veggies makes life more interesting, not to mention nutritious, so this recipe is all-raw. Ingredients are mainly shredded beets and daikon (white icicle) radishes, both high in Vitamin C, plus shredded carrots. What makes the recipe kick is the miso dressing.

Spring Tonic Root Vegetable Soup

Get Your Vitamins & Minerals Here

Recipe by Robin

About this time of year a few generations ago, mothers in Appalachia concocted spring tonics to invigorate family members after the long winter. Many ingredients were bitter and thought to encourage blood flow to revitalize body tissues, as natural and beneficial as springtime sap rising in a tree. Some traditional ingredients have been proven to be full of vitamins and minerals. Violet leaves are rich in Vitamin C and dandelion greens in Vitamin A. Comfrey is a potent source of calcium and is still prescribed by naturopaths for patients with broken bones.

Fava Beans & Radishes with Mustard Dressing

Favas and Radishes with Mustard Dressing over Lettuce

Recipe Altered (a lot) from Bon Appetit, April 2006

My friend Mel gave us some Portuguese fava beans right from his garden the other night. These beans are descendents of the first favas imported from Portugal, and his family has raised them for many years, harvesting and drying seeds at the end of every season. Naturally I was excited to use them in my favorite recipe for mature favas, especially since we have some radishes from Live Earth Farm (our CSA) in the fridge.

Sauteed Radishes with their Greens

Before saute

Recipe from Live Earth Farm, Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, 2001

My mother said not to, but it turns out that it’s okay. Eating radish greens, that is. At this time of year, they’re young and delicious, and can be eaten simply steamed or even raw, if you dare. This recipe combines the best of both worlds by sautéing both radishes and their greens together with a little garlic. It makes a brightly colored and novel side dish, and the sharpness of the radishes as well as the fuzziness of the greens disappears in the cooking.