French Radishes with Butter

I’ve spent most of my life not being a radish fan and am not entirely sure why. I love horseradish and wasabi (both from the same family) and they typically have more ‘bite’ than a traditional radish. Recently I’ve seen the error of my ways.

It started when Lisa D, my recipe curator partner on The Fox’s Kitchen cookbook, mentioned how wonderful radishes with butter were. We talked about putting this simple recipe into the cookbook but it never made it. Fast forward a year or so and we find ourselves at a market in Provence and see the most lovely French radishes along with good butter and salt. Reminded of what Lisa had said, I knew we had to get these.

French radishes are an heirloom variety of radishes. Compared to your more typical radish (Cherry Belle) they are more oval than round. And, a bit more mild in flavor. They are also called breakfast radishes as the French often eat them for their first meal of the day with butter, salt and a baguette. We enjoyed them as an hors d’oeuvre while in France.

Since there are only three ingredients in this recipe, you want to make sure they are all of a good quality. These beautiful French radishes came to me from Erica at B & H Organic Produce (Morgantown, PA) via Growing Roots Farmers Market in Malvern, PA. If you can’t find French radishes, traditional radishes work well, too. 

The only butter option here is good European-style butter (or as we call it in our house ‘good butter’). It is a cultured butter that has been churned longer to a higher butterfat content of 82%. I always have Ireland’s Kerry Gold on hand, but there are many varieties from both Europe and the United States. The debate in our house is salted or unsalted. I prefer unsalted so that you can add the amount and kind of salt you want. Plus, I often bake with it and it’s always best to use unsalted butter in baking. The key is allowing the butter to reach room temperature as it’s much easier to spread.

And, if you’re using good butter you want to use good salt. For this dish, I used some French salt (fitting!) that my brother, Geoff T and his family had brought back from France. They shared a lovely story of how they had picked it up on a walk near the ocean. Any kind of coarse sea salt works well. Maldon Sea Salt Flakes are always a good option. I get mine in the European aisle at Wegmans.

Take a slice of radish, spread some butter on it and sprinkle some salt. It’s that simple. And, just the taste of it brings back so many lovely memories.