Since growing radishes, admiring radishes, and writing poetry about radishes has been so much fun, I decided to try to find a way that we would enjoy eating radishes. I mean, Brandon and I like a sprinkling of radish shavings in a salad as much as anyone, but eating a whole bundle with one meal has never been attempted by us. Since Jamie and Leigh were coming over for dinner Wednesday night (crock pot barbecue pork ribs, yum) I took advantage of the opportunity to use them as guinea pigs, and tried to get creative with my radishes. While perusing radish recipes, I noticed lots of positive reviews for a radish vegetable dip, and also noticed that one of the reviewers who said she didn't even like radishes, but loved this dip, also tried her first carved radish flower, and it was a big hit. Radish carving? Eureka!
I watched a few short youtube videos, then raided the garden for the last of the radishes and some dill. The volunteer seedlings that I noticed earlier this spring have turned out to be dill plants, and I have about a hundred all crowded into the same small space. For the radish dip recipe, I pulled up a handfull of baby dill plants. Then, I stared carving my two most perfect radishes. My radish flowers aren't quite as impressive as the ones the lady with the gold fingernails carved on youtube, but for my first time, I was excited by the results and had to take a dozen or so photos of my creations.
To make the dip, I put two cloves of garlic in the food processor with eight or nine radishes, a package of cream cheese, some salt, and my handful of dill. Once it was all whirred into a dip consistency, I liked the red and green flecks in the cheese, which I thought was a nice complement to my radish flowers. Aesthetically, the dip was a success. Taste wise, well...after Leigh's first bite, she needed a glass of water to wash it down, ASAP, but she later decided it was okay on salty corn chips. Jamie and Brandon ate plenty with no complaints other than some comments about an after flavor/burn, but also no rave reviews or requests for radish dip to be served at future dinners. I quite enjoyed it, but maybe not enough to suffer the resulting dragon breath again. Cheesy garlic with a radish after burn is a taste that lingers. If I make again, I may stick to a single garlic, or leave it out all together, but then it will probably taste like radishes. Maybe cream cheese with dill would be the best version!
2 comments:
Pickled radish rose in a pretty jar?
Oh, that's a good idea! I wish I had thought of that. I put the radish flowers in the compost, and it made me sad to do it. Now I have an excuse to carve some more.
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