Another harvest first today – radishes! I was worried about my sweetcorn as they were rather yellow – not dying, but no reassuringly green. Some fellow GYOers suggested it was wind stress, and others that it was magnesium deficiency. I can’t do much about the wind, but treatment for Mg deficiency is a tbsp of Epsom salts in 1 gallon of water, applied a foliar feed (i.e. water the leaves, not the ground). So I pottered up to the lottie in the late afternoon, looking like a loon with a watering can since it’d rained solidly from 8am to 2pm today, and treated them to a feed. They were actually already looking better, and I would say are about a foot tall. Which is awful for June usually, but fab for 2012, rubbish growing year that it is. While I was there I discovered that a) my radishes are ready and b) I apparently can’t tell the difference between radishes and baby turnips. I had sown them via the pinch module method and often when removing some today left smaller ones from the same module to grow on, however brassicas like firm soil so may not appreciate being harvested like this. Time will tell. I also had a nice chat with the bloke 2-3 plots down who complimented me on my beetroot (not an innuendo, they’re doing very nicely, whereas his direct-sown ones have failed twice). So I triumphantly brought home my first harvest of radishes (and baby turnips), and their destiny is the following recipe.
From http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/may/18/radish-recipes-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall
Glazed radishes (V)
A nice way to treat radishes that are not quite as super-fresh as you’d like them to be. It makes a great side dish for a roast. Serves three to four.
25g butter
250g radishes, trimmed and washed
1 tsp caster sugar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
About 150ml stock
Chopped parsley, to serveMelt the butter over a medium heat in a deep frying pan or a saucepan large enough to take the radishes in a single layer. Add the radishes, sugar, a good pinch of salt and enough stock to come halfway up the radishes. Bring to a simmer and cook gently, uncovered, giving the pan a shake or a stir every now and then, until the radishes are just tender but still with some resistance to the bite – around 15 minutes. Remove the radishes with a slotted spoon, transfer to a warmed dish and keep warm.
Raise the heat under the pan and rapidly boil the remaining liquid until reduced to a thick glaze (it may well need little or no extra cooking). Return the radishes to the pan, turn to coat them in the glaze, season again and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.
I will let you know how it goes. I tried eating a bit of radish and it’s basically like gnawing on raw horseradish (oh wait… horseradish… that makes sense then) i.e. as hot as mustard. Which is good. As long as you think of it as a seasoning and not a food. I made Mum and Dad try some. Although I don’t consider my childhood particularly void of wholesome food nor my current diet particularly unadventurous, I have noticed that I don’t like broad beans, I can’t be bothered with peas (~6 pods a weekend isn’t going to go terribly far), I don’t like lettuce, I’m worried by radish (thought determined to find a way to eat them), globe artichokes are not worth the effort to eat, and I’m still not entirely sure how one eats turnips. I foresee a lot of roasting and random curries in my future.
I also made a banana cake! I can’t take a picture, we’ve eaten 90% of it. It was also one of Hugh’s, this one to be precise – http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/spiced-banana-loaf-cake-with-chocolate-chunks/ – though I had a little difficulting grinding cardamon seeds with neither a pestle or mortar in parent’s house – I resorted to a rolling pin, a bag, and a granite work surface. So not as spicy as it should have been. Anyway, cake, yes, noms yes. The interesting bit was we didn’t have any eggs, and I discovered that for cakes (where the egg is a leavening agent) it can be replaced by 1 tbsp of vinegar (ideally cider or white wine) added to the wet stuff, the banana in this case, and 1 tsp of baking soda added to the dry stuff. It rose, like a boss. I was very pleased indeed.
