Although the color of the watermelon radish is screaming summer, this vegetable is actually a fall crop and may make its way into some of your CSA boxes soon. Shave this mild radish to make a crisp and colorful base for a salad.
It was my Mother’s influence, in a rather indirect way, that interested me in cooking. Today, the Recipe Redux is challenging us to share our first cooking recollections. Buckel up, because mine goes back the year Bennie and the Jets was a top 10 single. Sigh. It start’s with the the story of my first attempt to bake a cake from scratch. The day was Oct. 9, my Mother’s birthday. Barely a teenager, I was home alone and hoping to surprise her (in a good way). Before I began, I asked myself:
What could go wrong?
How could this be difficult?
Not convince it was a bad idea, I opened Mom’s Betty Crocker Cookbook to the recipe for a family favorite, chocolate cake, and began to assemble the necessary ingredients. Soon I was on to the instructions…but then there was this..
Grease and flour the pans.
Suddenly, I ‘m stumped. Sure, I knew how to grease a pan, but the flour part? What’s up with that, I thought to myself. Googleless, and feeling a little unsure of myself, I scooped up some shortening on a piece of wax paper, smeared the cake pans, cautiously added a little flour to the slick pans, shaking and turing them until they looked a tad dusty. Voila. Why was that so perplexing? IDK. The story has a happy ending with a delicious cake and a cheerful Mother and Daughter!!!
Now you’re probably expecting me to share a recipe for a baked good or that chocolatae cake, right? But let me take this story a little further. Mom was the baker in the family. Like most daughters (then and now), I craved my own identity, which is why I taught myself to cook, #gofigure. Unlike my mother, I tried new and different things, and never worried if anyone else in the family would like them, #teenagersareselfish. In the spirit of this first food recollection, I am trying something new and different, made with a vegetable I have never had (but looks kinda cool), the watermelon radish. On the exterior, this radish is creamy white, but cut into it and you’ll expose the exceptional magenta interior. Shaving it spotlights its color and crisp texture, making it a fabulous base for a salad! Because I like to keep things simple, I finished the salad with just feta cheese, a lemon vinaigrette and fresh chopped mint. Have you ever had watermelon radishes? If so, please share your experience in the comments below. Don’t forget to the visit the links at the bottom of this post for more first cooking recollections!
Watermelon Radish Salad
Shave the mild watermelon radish to make a crisp and colorful base for a salad.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound watermelon radishes
- 1/2 pound red radishes
- fresh mint
- 1/4 cup feta cheese
Instructions
1. Wash and peel watermelon radishes. Shave with either a vegetable peeler or a mandolin slicer. Set in bowl.
2. Wash red radishes and slice into rounds. Set in bowl with shaved watermelon radishes.
3. Combine ingredients for lemon vinaigrette in a small prep bowl and whisk briskly. Pour over radishes.
4. Top with feta cheese and fresh mint. Toss. Serve immediately.
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