Recipe: Roast these little root veggies with garlic
Roasted radishes with garlic make a great side dish with grilled meats or other vegetables. Kathy Morrison
The cute little spring radishes, including the red/pink/purple/white combo dubbed "Easter egg radishes," still have a bite if eaten raw. But apply some heat to those quick-growing root vegetables via roasting and they turn delightfully mellow.
This recipe is super-easy and can be used with any type of radish. Add some minced garlic during roasting and the result is a flavorful side dish to grilled meats or other grilled vegetables (such as portobello mushrooms).
The roasted radishes also can be enjoyed at room temperature as part of a salad -- ranch dressing goes particularly well with them.
Add as much garlic as you like but wait until the latter part of the cooking time so it doesn't overcook and become bitter. (Not a garlic fan? Chopped spring onions are another option.) The herbs are variable -- whatever fresh one you have much of will work, or used your favorite dried herb.
Garlic-roasted spring radishes
Serves 2 to 4
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon melted butter or flavorful vegetable oil such as avocado oil
Two to three bunches small radishes, at least 8 ounces total and up to 1 pound, washed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried herbs, such as parsley or oregano, or 1 tablespoon fresh herbs such as basil, chives or parsley
1 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
Instructions:
Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Remove the stems from the radishes and trim off the roots. Halve any larger radishes so that most of the vegetables are the same size.
In a bowl, combine the butter or oil, the trimmed radishes, the salt, pepper to taste, and the chosen herbs. Toss to coat the radishes evenly.
Scrape the radish mixture into a baking dish, spreading the radishes in an even layer.
Bake for 12 minutes, then stir the vegetables, add the minced garlic to the dish, and stir again.
Continue roasting until the radishes are crisp-tender, 8-12 minutes. Watch that the garlic doesn't burn.
Serve immediately or allow to cool to room temperature if adding to a salad.
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Garden Checklist for week of May 12
Get your gardening chores and irrigation done early in the day before temperatures rise.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions. This heat will cause leafy greens and onions to flower; pick them before they bolt.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.
* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Got fruit trees? If you haven't already done so, thin orchard fruit such as apples, peaches, pears, pluots and plums before they grow too heavy, breaking branches or even splitting the tree. Leave the largest fruit on the branch, culling the smaller ones, and allow for 5 to 6 inches (or a hand's worth) between each fruit.
* Thin grape bunches, again leaving about 6 inches between them. For the remaining bunches, prune off the "tail" end, about the bottom third of the bunch, so that the plant's energy is concentrated in the fruit closest to the branch.
* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.