Little Red Radish Root

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They are usually just the cute little sidekick. But you have to be ready for new heroes (Ingredient Special on Small Red Radishes plus Recipe ‘Sea Rose Tart’, Rcp# 39).

Some time ago I became interested in using ingredients from ‘head to toe’, meaning from leaf to root. And I discovered, that the leaves of these little red balls are actually quite tasty as well (provided they are fresh and smell like radish and not like sour compost).

Before that, I had only known these spicy little balls as a decoration or a snack at a hearty family supper. Without the leaves, of course. When I was a kid, we even cut off the very last little bit of the green top.

My real love affair with the little red radishes – ‘Radieschen’ as they are called around here – began when I started growing sprouts. Because the rapid growth that makes legions of home gardeners so fond of the small bright globes works just as well in the sprouting jar. And the shape of the sprouts opens up even more interesting possibilities for their use in cooking, because they have a very unique flavor. Therefore, you could definitely say that small red radishes are a very interesting ingredient to work with.

So imagine my surprise, when I looked up this cute round root in my collection of cookbooks (there are about fifty of them by now … I think). The only use they attributed to my ingredient special candidate was the classic garnish or well-known spicy sidekick. Seriously?

But of course I would not be telling you this story, if it didn’t have an interesting twist. Upon some further investigation, I found that as more and more chefs and foodies have begun to adopt a ‘leaf to root’ policy to avoid food waste, the little radish’s green turned out to have an even greater culinary potential than its base (not to mention nutritional value).

And when you consider the family roots of the little red radish and learn about the medicinal benefits of Raphanus Sativus, the ‘Cultivated Radish’, in its many forms and shades, you are bound to be amazed. It’s a wonder everyone doesn’t eat radishes all the time. Well, in many parts of Asia – the plant’s likely origin – radishes were, and still are, an important part of the daily diet. Partly because of their traditionally known health properties.

So what’s the moral here: ‘Never underestimate anything cute, especially if it’s red?’ Yeah, that might work. But what I like even better goes something like this: If you love an ingredient, explore its potential. Good food comes from inspiration.

Side Notes

  • As usual, you’ll find a recipe to go with this ingredient special on the ‘Little Red Radish Root’ below (Sea Rose Tart, Rcp# 39) . And – just like the little girl in the classic fairy tale, the root turns out to be the star in this one. As the central ingredient of a cake. Leaf to root.
  • If you are interested in the connection between longevity and certain food cultures – including the regular consumption of radishes all over the globe, you may find the post [‘A Helping of Happiness’] inspiring. The background information with this post on the [InfoByteSized] page is also very interesting. In addition, I have covered the nutritional values of the usually neglected greens of common vegetables (such as turnips and beets) in another post called [‘The Good Greens’].
  • On the [InfoByteSized] page you will find a link to an article about the ‘nutraceutical potential’ of radishes – that is, their nutritional composition and possible properties for healing and preventing illnesses. As usual, I am only suggesting additional external background here, not evaluating it (I am neither a medical doctor nor a certified nutritionist). I do this because I think it might offer another dimension to the usual view of foods.

Sea Rose Tart

Recipe with the Ingredient Special on Small Red Radishes (Rcp# 39)

Ingredients for‘Sea Rose Tart’

  • 1 recipe for the pizza base from [‘Pizza Vagabond’], just replace the carrot weed with radish greens (see instructions below)
  • 15 medium round red radishes, with green
  • 5 dried and pitted dates, quartered lengthwise and then sliced (must be refrigerated before cutting, resulting pieces are about the size of a peppercorn)
  • 2 tablespoons of pure sour fruit juice (I used pomegranate)
  • 1 tablespoon of pure red beet juice (not fermented)
  • 2 tablespoons of date syrup
  • 150 ml of hot water (75°C)
  • 1 tablespoon of salt (mild)
  • 150 g feta (ours is usually based on coconut or almond oil, but if you want to use dairy products, you’ll need goat and/or sheep’s milk feta)
  • 2 tablespoons oat yogurt (dairy yogurt will not work here)
  • 3 tablespoons cream cheese (again, you’ll need a plant-based alternative here, ours is made from oats and almonds)
  • freshly ground nutmeg
  • ground caraway seeds
  • 1 handful leaves from plain, flat-leaf parsley, finely minced
  • You will also need 1 standard springform pan for cakes and tarts or 2 medium-sized flat pans for lasagna/tiramisu (earthenware, porcelain, stoneware)

Preparations for ‘Sea Rose Tart’

  1. Cut off the green from the radishes (above the base of the leaves) and soak them for 20 minutes, then place them in a colander to drain the water. Carefully remove the last bit of water from the leaves with a towel, chop them coarsely and add them to the dough preparations for the [‘Pizza Vagabond’] pizza base to replace the carrot weed (steps 1 – 5 of the dough recipe). Let the complete dough rest for at least half an hour according to recipe.
  2. Wash the radishes, remove bad spots and roots, then cut the radishes into thin slices (1- 2 mm thick). Salt the slices in a bowl and let them water out for half an hour, then rinse off with cold water and sieve. Place the slices in a saucepan with the juices, syrup and hot water. Leave to marinade until you have prepared the dough for baking (see below, 30 – 60 minutes max).
  3. Remove the baking rack from the oven, if you are using earthenware, stoneware or porcelain (usually these forms are sensitive to sudden changes in temperature). Instead of placing the dough on a baking sheet, place about 1 1/2 – 2 cm it in the oiled pan(s) of your choice. Bake according for 40 minutes at 180°C (pre-heated, convection, plus top and bottom heat).
  4. Immediately after placing the dough in the oven, heat the saucepan with the marinade. Bring to a boil, then turn off and remove from the heat. Allow to cool to hand warm.
  5. Crumble the feta. Mix the cream cheese, oat yogurt, caraway seeds, nutmeg, and chopped parsley with 3-4 tablespoons of the cooled radish marinade and stir under the crumbled feta. Be careful not to mash everything, but keep the crumbly appearance. Remove the rimless, pink radish slices from the marinade with a slotted spoon.
  6. After baking and removing from the oven, let the dough cool to hand-warm. Also, if you used stoneware or earthenware, remove the rack from the oven (which you can leave at the set temperature because you’ll need it again).
  7. Arrange the roses from the radish slices on the outer edge of the forms with the dough. Place the date pieces in the center of the roses to resemble the center of real flowers.
  8. Place the feta crumble mixture in the center of the tart and spread it out according to the shape of the pan (round pan = crumble circle, oval pan = crumble oval…).
  9. Return the rack to the oven and place the filled pan(s) on top to bake for 12-15 minutes.
  10. Immediately after removing from the oven, carefully loosen the corners and sides of the tart from the edges of the tins using a standard kitchen knife or bamboo/wooden spatula (without cutting into the tins).

This dish can be served hot or cold. If you have leftovers, use them the next day or let them cool quickly and freeze them. To defrost, put the tart in the refrigerator and eat it the same day. You can reheat it after thawing, but only once (I would use the oven rather than the microwave, as it preserves the flavor better).

Side Notes:

  1. This is the perfect centerpiece for a brunch buffet. Like the one at Easter this year’s [‘Sunday Brunch’].
  2. I tried a simpler version in muffin tins with just the roses on top of the dough (see picture). It’s a quick alternative because there’s one ingredient that’s hard to come by, but this recipe depends on it: fresh radish greens. But radishes are easy to grow, and it’s still time to sow them, so if you have a balcony or a garden, make sure there’s no shortage of these funky little balls in the coming weeks 😉

Please note: For all my recipes (text) on this blog (By MagS, Parsley-Lane Blog) I grant a CC license under the terms of BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further explanations, please see the Legal Notice or visit creativecommons.org.