Herb-Rubbed Soft Radishes

This recipe takes radishes to a new level. While I used to think of radishes as the peppery, crunchy accompaniment to salads and wraps, this recipe turns them on their little heads. By roasting the radishes whole, they become a delicious substitute for potatoes. They transform soft when cooked and their punchy flavor mellows. They are quick to cook and a delicious side dish. I made my own herbs-de-Provence-style rub and it was really fresh and satisfying!

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Ah, the humble radish. To be honest, I never used to be excited by radishes. They have a very strong flavor and I only wanted them in small quantities - a little topping on a bed of greens or occasionally raw with hummus or the like. I also always associated them as just being a token food - a Passover bite or a pretty garnish. And then I went to a restaurant where they served roasted whole radishes on the menu - I was taken aback. Never had I heard of such a thing. This changed my mind on the radish completely and I was determined to try to make my own. 

For this recipe, you can buy a whole bunch of radishes. If you are cooking for four people, you’ll want to get two bunches, because radishes are usually small in size and small in number in a bunch. You can get white, red, rainbow, whatever is available to you. I used a bundle of gorgeously alabaster radishes, because that was what was in my farm box, but radishes have a wide variety of colors and often the inside is even more strikingly beautiful than the outside.

Herb-roasted potatoes are such a classic side-dish option, so I thought, ‘why not do that to the radish and roast and see how it goes?’ I think you’ll find it a refreshing counter to a denser potato (don’t get me wrong: I love potatoes, but sometimes you want something lighter). 

Herbs de Provence

Herbs de Provence is the generic name for a spice mixture that comes from the fields of southern France (the Provence region), where a variety of aromatic herbs are grown across acres of farmland, dried, and mixed in balanced quantities that deliver a fragrant addition to meats, fish, vegetables, and pretty much anything. You have possibly seen it sold at food markets in the spice section - you aren’t buying a single herb or spice, but a blend.

There is no single HdP recipe. It often contains a mix of lavender, rosemary, oregano, bay leaf (laurel), thyme, basil, tarragon, savory, marjoram, or other spices and it adorns countless Mediterranean dishes. The nice thing about making your own herbs-de-Provence-style mix (note, that I won’t call it true herbs de Provence, because my herbs did not come from France) is that you can pick and choose. By design, there is no one recipe, so this allows you to use what you have or what you prefer and avoid buying dozens of spices you’ll never want to use again. Hate oregano? Just leave it out.

For my spice mix, I used lavender, rosemary, bay leaf, thyme, and oregano. You can see my instructions for drying herbs separately, which is quite easy. The lavender, rosemary, and bay leaf came from my garden. The thyme and oregano were from the local CSA farm box. 

You’ll want to use a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder if you have either, to grind the spices - you don’t want whole coarse sprigs for this recipe, as they will be too tough compared to the soft, buttery radishes and be unpleasant to chew. However, you can still leave some mass to them, which means that if you don’t have a mortar or grinder, you can do your best to finely mince the herbs with a sharp knife until they are of fine texture.

One of the nice things about this recipe is that you can make a batch of herbs mix ahead of time and save it in the pantry in a sealable jar. Then, you can bring it out to season for this recipe or others, whenever you need it. You don’t have to make it special every time you want radishes - it is shelf stable with the rest of the herbs, so that will cut your prep time down by even more. So, feel free to double or triple the recipe for the spices, use some on your radishes now, and save the rest for another time.

The recipe is really quite simple - you’ll wash the radishes and remove the green stems/leaves. I don’t trim the radishes themselves, but if you have a very long, hair-like root coming out of the point on the radish, you can simply twist it off and compost it. Drizzle with olive oil, add a little water to help steam the thickest radishes, and start them roasting at 350 degrees on a baking dish - I used a small glass, flat-sided bowl, actually.

In the meantime, measure out your spice mix (feel free to play around here) and grind or chop until the desired consistency. Then take the radishes out and toss in the herbs to coat the oily radishes. Put them back in the oven until they are tender whereby a fork tine can pierce the radish all the way through. You want to get the crunch out and leave just the soft meat of the radish.

What to do with the radish greens? I’m so glad you asked. Radish greens are delightful. They actually have a really deep flavor that I like. You can wash them and add them to a salad. See some of our salad recipes and simply add the radish greens to the leaf mix. Or you can coat the leaves in olive oil and bake them on the side of your radish baubles. They will crisp up rather quickly. You can salt them and eat them like chips, as a matter of fact, like you would a kale chip or dried seaweed. Lastly, you can sautee them like a spinach green or a chard and have them in eggs, with beans, or in a stir fry like a bok choy. Enjoy!!

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Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 30 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• One bunch of radishes

• 1 tbs olive oil

• 1.5 tbs water

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 sprig rosemary (approximately ½ tsp when ground)

• 1 sprig thyme (approximately ½ tsp when ground)

• ½ sprig oregano (approximately ¼ tsp when ground)

• ½ sprig lavender (approximately ¼ tsp when ground)

• Pinch of salt, to taste

Equipment

Mortar and pestle or spice grinder (or a sharp knife if chopping instead of grinding the spice mix)

Small, flat glass baking dish or bowl

Instructions

• Turn on your oven to bake at 350 degrees.

• Remove the stems and leaves from the radishes by twisting and pulling them off or with a knife.

• Wash the radishes to remove any dirt.

• Place your radishes in a small, glass baking dish and coat with olive oil.

• Add the water to the dish to allow the radishes to partially steam.

• When the oven is at 350 degrees, put the baking dish in and start to cook the radishes.

• While the radishes cook for about 5-10 minutes, make the spice mix by adding the bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and lavender to a mortar and pestle. Grind until the spices become a coarse spice mix. Note, you can also use a spice grinder or simply chop finely with a sharp knife. 

• Add the salt to the spice mix and then remove the radishes from the oven.

• Coat the radishes with the spices and mix to evenly distribute.

• Add the radishes back to the oven and cook for another approximately 25 minutes or until the radish can be pierced all the way through with the tines of a fork. The radishes should be soft.

• Remove from the oven and serve. Enjoy!