Granted, it was a tad chilly last Saturday morning, but several souls wrapped up in long sleeves and came to my cooking demo on using hothouse tomatoes at The Hitching Lot Farmers’ Market. I used River Bend’s tomatoes, but we are lucky enough to have Waverly Ferry Gardens growing them as well. The recipes I used can be found at hitchinglot.org.
There were tender, sugary English peas available at Phil Lancaster’s table. I plan to add them to potato salad, toss with scrambled eggs or just throw them into a green salad. Across the aisle, Scott Enlow of Black Creek Farm had several interesting varieties of radishes. The Big Daddy on the table was the daikon, used widely in Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese cooking.
The daikon is sort of pearly white and is high in fiber, magnesium, potassium and Vitamin C. Note: it is also high in sugar. Like other radishes, it does have a peppery flavor, which I love, and is a perfect vegetable to pickle.
Following are some recipes I found that are tasty and low in calories. Note that brine for the pickled radishes could also be used for carrots or any other vegetable with the same texture.
Have fun with these, and I’ll see you at the market.
DAIKON RADISH CHIPS
Daikon radish, washed peeled and sliced thinly (a mandolin works nicely)
3 tablespoons olive oil (additional note below)
Paprika, garlic powder or other flavoring you like.
Salt and pepper
(Source: New Hempshire Public Radio)
DAIKON RADISH SALAD
1 1/2 pounds daikon, peeled
Kosher salt
1 pound carrots, peeled
1 tablespoon grated peeled ginger
3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 3/4 teaspoons white sesame seeds
1 3/4 teaspoons black sesame seeds
(Source: Food Network magazine)
PICKLED DAIKON AND RED RADISHES WITH GINGER
1 1/2 pounds daikon radishes, peeled
10 red radishes, trimmed and cut lengthwise into 6 wedges
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon very thin matchsticks of peeled ginger
Can be kept, chilled, up to three weeks.
(Source: Gourmet magazine)
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.