Roasted Radish and Potato Salad (and the Mother's Day Giveaway Winners!)

Do you love radishes as much as I do? One of my favorite ways to serve them for company is an idea I got from Ina Garten ages ago: stems on,  with a dish of sea salt, accompanied by a baguette with herb butter. Sheer heaven. Or how about a toasted slice of grain bread, slathered with some unsalted butter and topped with some sliced radishes and sea salt? Perfect on a summer's day. When I lived in Michigan, my garden was chock full of radishes. I used to yank them out of the ground, rinse them off with a garden hose and eat them then and there. Now I have to buy them at the farmer's market or Fresh Market. 

The other day I was blog-crawling and came across a couple marvelous radish recipes from Cathy at Noble Pig. One was for a radish tart and the other for a roasted radish and potato salad. I decided to try the salad first and if I loved it, the tart would follow shortly after. One thing I loved about this recipe was Cathy used the radish greens...which usually find their way into the trash at my house. They're gritty little things and take a lot of rinsing, but it's well worth the effort. Radish greens have a slightly bitter taste, but then so does arugula and I love that. If you don't like arugula, you just might not like radish greens. Then go ahead and use any greens you want. But please rinse a couple off and try them first.

Now as far as the roasted radishes are concerned, I could kick myself! It just never occurred to me to roast radishes. I did some serious re-thinking on the subject after I came across an article HERE. So I thought: I roast every other veggie, why not radishes? As it turns out, they taste rather like very mild turnips. The texture, surprisingly, was like a potato. And when the radish greens are mixed in (while the potatoes and radishes are still warm, please) and then dressed with this simple vinaigrette, you're going to be astounded. It was fabulous. You'll be making this over and over this summer. And if you're lucky enough to have radishes in your garden, be sure to roast them and try them with other dishes. What a find this recipe is. Thank you Cathy!                                                                          

Roasted Radish and Potato Salad

From Cuisine at Home via Noble Pig

Ingredients:
1 lb. radishes, trimmed and quartered (reserve greens)
1 lb new potatoes, quartered
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method:
Preheat oven to 425^o F with a large baking sheet inside.

Toss radishes, potatoes, 2 Tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl to coat.  Transfer mixture to hot baking sheet in oven.  Roast until golden, 20-25 minutes, stirring halfway through roasting. 

In the meantime, wash radish greens in several changes of cold water and spin dry.  For the vinaigrette whisk together vinegar, 3 Tablespoons oil, Dijon, parsley and dill in a bowl until combined; season with salt and pepper.  Stir radish greens into roasted radishes and potatoes and add vinaigrette.

And now for the winners of the Mother's Day Giveaway!
Congratulations to:

Susan from Savoring Time in the Kitchen  (Heidi's book)

Joanne from Eats Well With Others (Heidi's book)
Barbara from Barbara Bakes (Kim's book)
T.W. Barritt from Culinary Types (Kim's book)

Please email me at bsmithw@gmail.com and give me your addresses so I can get them into the mail to you ASAP!