Roasted Radish and Wilted Spinach Side Dish

A friend recently mentioned she was having roasted radishes for dinner.  The recipe sounded interesting to me especially since it is low carb and vegan.  So when I spotted the beautiful red vegetable with it’s bright green foliage in the market I decided to try them. Hubs and I are delighted at how wonderful they taste!

My friend said she roasted them with olive oil, salt and pepper.  That sounded really simple so I started there.  After washing the fresh radishes I cut off the bright greens and little root ends then sliced each radish in half.  Dropping the radishes into a hot skillet with a tablespoon or two of olive oil and sprinkled with salt I then added a big pinch of dried/ground thyme over them.  It was a bit like stir fry moving them around the skillet until they were slightly tender.

When they were tender some of the bright green radish tops went back in the skillet plus about four cups of fresh spinach leaves from our garden.  It took only minutes for the spinach to wilt a bit.  I squeezed the juice of one lemon over the ingredients plus a little more salt. 

The only other time I’ve had radishes was raw slices in a salad and I wasn’t crazy for the spicy bite they left in my mouth.  Roasting them completely changes the taste to a delightful flavor and texture similar to new red potatoes. Hubs and I agree this recipe will for sure be on the menu again.  Heck, we may even plant some radish in our raised  garden bed!

It’s good to try new things, you never know when you’ll find a winning recipe you didn’t expect.  Be sure to message me when you try them, I’d love to know what you think.  And if you have other recipe combinations I’d love to hear about them.

Ingredients:

1 bundle of radishes
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon thyme
4 cups fresh spinach leaves
1 lemon

Directions:

• Wash and trim radishes reserving the green leaves. Slice each radish in half.
• Place prepared radishes in hot skillet with olive oil.  Add salt and pepper.
• Stir occasionally until radish are slightly tender when pierced with a fork.
• Add radish leaves and spinach leaves to the hot dish and toss together until leaves wilt slightly.
• Serve as a side dish.
• * This would also make a nice salad on it's own if you cook a couple slices of bacon and use the rendered bacon fat instead of olive oil to cook the radish. Serve on fresh crisp spinach.

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