I had to take a snap of these beauties at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market last week.  I love the way they are stacked up, a wall of root veg.  And all the colors—red can be so redundant.  Why is it that we always think radishes are red?

For Thanksgiving in 2009 (well, it was actually the day after Thanksgiving since I was catering on the big day) my wife and I had a few friends over for dinner.  The lovely Melanie (that’s my misses) took care of all the apps and the first thing she chose—and insisted on—was radishes with butter and sea salt.  It was like an obsession for her.


So we hit the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market on Wednesday (which was totally nutso-crazy-packed…if you want to see it at its busiest, the day before T-Day is probably it!) and bought a bunch of oblong, multi-colored, fresh radishes.  These babes were long and shaped more like fingerling potatoes.  The beautiful shades of purple, blush, white and red (can’t escape ‘em) were a gorgeous addition to the coffee table.  So much color in an appetizer and so natural!

To prep we just scrubbed the babes, sliced ‘em in half lengthwise and arranged them on a plate.  Next to that plate we filled a ramekin with some soft butter.  We splurged and got an unsalted (always) Lurpak butter imported from Denmark, Really lovely stuff, pale yellow with a great clean flavor that is fresh and aromatic.  I recently learned that Lurpak uses a starter to “sour” the cream adding to its unusual flavor and perhaps explaining why I like it so much (I’m a sucker for starters and natural fermentation).

I do wish I’d had more time to prepare, I would have made my own butter from shaking cream, or sourced out something local and raw.  But no matter what you do make sure you get a REAL GREAT BEURRE for this!  A Plugra or better, OK?

For the salt we used the classic Maldon.  Love that flake.  But again, like your butter, you gotta get something really bitchin’.

Each guest simply grabs a radish, smears a little butter on it (or dips it in the ramekin—we did provide a knife) and sprinkles some sea salt on top.  Voila!

The crisp, Earthy and sharp radish flavor is tempered by the butter and the salt pops in your mouth setting off a fun chain reaction of taste.  This is as much a tactile experience as it is a flavorful one:  the mouth feel of the snapping radish, the smooth butter, the zippy crackling salt.  It’s aromatic too with the radish’s cool heat and that grassy/creamy butter vibe.  Great stuff, I love it.  Simple, fun, elegant, delicious and a great showcase of the radish in all its colorful glory!