Eat your (radish) greens!
Gardening has taught me to use the whole plant. It just seems wrong to me to plant a seed, watch it grow, rip it out of the ground, and toss over half the plant away. Hence cooking with radish greens. I love radishes, which grow one bulb from one seed. They spend so much energy producing beautiful, leafy green tops that it’s tragic to throw them out - even if it’s on the compost pile.
Radishes (like most vegetables) are full of nutrients. They are a very good source of dietary fiber, Vitamin C, Folate and Potassium. In addition, it’s a good source of Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Magnesium, Copper and Manganese. The green tops have all of these nutrients, plus more Vitamin C, Calcium and protein.
Because they are slightly hairy and have a strong peppery and sometimes bitter flavor, I like to chop the leaves finely and add to raw salads. Since it’s been cold out, I sliced them thinly and added them to a cooked salad.
Red cabbage sauteed with elephant garlic and radish greens
This is really quick and simple to make. I chose elephant garlic, because it has a sweeter flavor which balances the strong flavor of the radish greens.
Ingredients
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
2 cloves elephant garlic, halved lengthwise, sliced crosswise thinly (see Notes below)
1 small red cabbage head, cut into 1/2 inch slices and quartered
1 small bunch of radish greens, chiffonade
Method
Heat the oil and salt over medium-high heat. Saute the garlic until it begins to brown. Add cabbage and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow the cabbage to brown a bit. Next add the radish greens and cook, stirring frequently, until they turn bright green and wilt: about 1 minute. That’s it!
Notes
If you can’t find elephant garlic, use less garlic. Mince it and caramelize it over slightly lower heat.
radishes radish gardening garden cooking cookbook recipe photo elephant garlic olive oil
