My vegetable basket this week included three black radishes, oblong and rather large. Black radish is another one of those forgotten vegetables, so I was quite happy for the chance to experiment with it.
Last time I had bought a black radish, I had used it raw in a yogurt-dressed salad, and had been rather unimpressed. I realize in hindsight that it probably wasn’t very fresh: it was much limper than the crisp and vigorous ones I got this week. Still, I wanted to try them in their cooked form this time.
One of them I cut up in matchsticks and added to an Asian stir-fry, to very good results. And I decided to bake the two remaining ones: baking is my favorite cooking method for root vegetables, as it brings out their sweetness in a delightful way.
These oven-baked black radish chips turned out really well: their natural pungency is toned down by the baking, yet the edge remains, and they proved quite addictive.
In slicing them up, I also discovered how beautiful this vegetable is, with the white on white sunray pattern on each slice. Afterwards, I thought it would have been even nicer to leave half of the peel on, in stripes, so that each of the slices would have dashes on the rim.
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Ingredients
- 2 large black radishes
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- salt, pepper
- piment d'Espelette (optional, substitute chili flakes)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Grease a baking dish (unless it is non-stick).
- Wash and scrub the radishes. Peel them with a vegetable peeler, leaving half of the peel in stripes if desired.
- Slice the radishes thinly -- very thin slices will be more chip-like, slightly thicker slices will be moister -- and put the slices in the baking dish.
- Pour a little olive oil and a little vinegar, and sprinkle with salt, pepper and piment d'Espelette. Toss to coat. Adjust the amounts so all the slices look comfortably dressed, but not drenched.
- Put in the oven to bake for about 20 minutes, until the chips are golden and their edges start to crisp up. Serve warm, as an appetizer or a side.
