Interesting Vegetables: Part Six

I finally remembered to bring my camera to CT with me this weekend. Took a bunch of garden pics and a few of some other local attractions - I'll be posting them here and there throughout the week. Stay tuned. This one is a general view of bro's garden. The long row in the middle is broccoli, to the right you can see a bit of the radishes, and behind them are peppers, ground cherries and the first year's growth of the asparagus bed. Its going to be a long wait for the first asparagus harvest - 3 years - but so far it looks promising.

As expected, I raided the garden. We took the last two ears of corn, a variety of tomatoes, boat loads of swiss chard, the last yellow squash, a bunch of potatoes and some very interesting radish. They're white on the outside and deep magenta on the inside. So cool looking - and spicy too. Love 'em!

I put the radish to good use last night in a salad I adapted from the Ellie Krieger book. Actually, I made an entire meal from "The Food You Crave." And ... wait for it ... it included some fish! Shocking! The fish was actually my way of atoning for the weekend's food consumption. Let's just say that I was decidedly *not* on The Beach this weekend ... if pressed, I might even admit to enjoying some pizza, Cheetos and a brownie or two along the way. Whee! But, I got back on the beam in a big way last night by swimming a mile and then preparing an astonishingly healthy dinner.

I made Ellie's "Sole with Vegetables in Foil Packets", using some lemon sole, zucchini, crimini mushrooms and orange bell peppers. It was outstanding. The fish was accompanied by Ellie's Herbed Bulgur-Lentil Pilaf, which is so good it could be a meal in itself, and my radish salad. I will post the salad recipe here because I've made a few changes, but the original is from "The Food's You Crave." I'm 100% in love with this book already and will be cooking from it often.

Here's a pic of the weird, but delicious, radishes from bro's garden. They were the star ingredient in this salad, though you could certainly use the traditional variety. I left out the sugar in the original recipe, added some chopped fresh mint and a dash of dark sesame oil as well. I also altered the vinegar to include two different varieties; seasoned rice vinegar and red wine vinegar. The seasoned rice vinegar does have some sugar, so feel free to use un-seasoned rice vinegar instead if you like. Its all flexible, so feel free to experiment here.






This is the finished salad ... not my best photographic effort, I'm afraid ... I have yet to master the art of food photography! I can assure you that the dish was exquisite. Great combination of flavors and the addition of the chopped mint was perfect and necessary. I hope you'll try it!

As for my news update ... I'll be posting that tomorrow. Stay tuned!



Radish and Snow Pea Salad:

• 2 cups snow peas
• 1 tbsp. water
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 large radishes (or 4 or 5 small), cut into julienne strips
• 1/8 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
• 1/8 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp. walnut oil
• 2 or 3 drops, dark toasted sesame oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh mint

Place the snow peas and the water in a microwave safe bowl, cover tightly with waxed paper and microwave on high for one minute. Pour into a strainer and rinse under cold water to cool. Let the snow peas drain completely.

Trim off the ends of the snow peas and cut them diagonally into 1/2 inch pieces. Place the snow peas, scallions and radishes into a medium sized bowl and reserve.

In a small bowl, combine the vinegars, walnut oil, sesame oil, salt and pepper to taste and whisk together until well combined. Pour over the reserved vegetables and toss to coat. Add the chopped mint, stir to combine, serve and enjoy!