Saturday, June 09, 2012

'Ahi Tuna and White Radish Tops and Tails


At Saturday's Farmers' Market, Holt bought what he thought was a bunch of tiny white turnips from an enchanting girl with purple hair.  They turned out to be radishes, so as neither of us cares for them raw, we searched the web for recipes that cooked both radishes and their dewy greens.

We left the little radishes whole, and did them according to hints in New Joy: chopped and sautéed five scallion whites in ample butter; then threw in the radishes (from biggest to smallest), and when they'd warmed up, added about 1/2 cup chicken broth, covered, and simmered for about ten minutes until they were tender.  The scallion greens then got mixed in to wilt.
To go with them, we patted a couple of tuna steaks with ground coriander, cumin, New Mexico chile, and salt, and sautéed them in a hot pan to just over rare.  And to top them (and use the radish greens), we made these Indian-style greens.
We had to make some substitutions, as usual: black sesame instead of nigella seeds, 1/4 of a jalapeño in escabeche for the green chili, and Chimayo red chile flakes for the red chili.
The radishes were actually quite tasty and turnip-like, and the tuna went very well with its green topping.  Luckily we had a Matua Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2011 that could stand up to the spice.  So we'll keep buying from the girl with purple hair.
[Update from one week later: we went back to that stand, and they told us the little white things really were turnips, not radishes.  So we stand corrected, and now know that there's really very little difference.]

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