Butter roasted radishes

Since it seems to be the week for using vegetables that I don’t often use: I don’t think I have ever cooked with radishes before. I’ve had them raw a few times in salads, and to be honest they’ve never particularly inspired me. I’m sure they’re lovely if you’re into salads (is anyone ‘into’ salads?), but cold, raw vegetables aren’t exactly tempting to me. Give me a roasted pepper over a raw pepper any day, or a sun-dried tomato, or some boiled carrots… I could never, ever be a raw foodie (not that I would want to be).

My absolute favourite way to improve on a raw vegetable is roasting – I’ve told you before how I think it’s utterly magical. There isn’t any vegetable that isn’t improved by roasting (though I’m sure you’ll all find examples to prove me wrong). So, I thought I’d give roasted radishes a go to see if they too can be improved by a stint in the oven.

And just in case regular roasting wasn’t enough, I thought I’d roast them in butter. There definitely isn’t anything that can’t be improved with a good dab of butter.

Start by topping and tailing your radishes. To be honest, you could probably stick with just topping them (they don’t have much tail), but I like to be thorough.

Plus it gives you more time to stare at how unbelievably gorgeous radishes are…

Spread them out on a baking tray with a bit of s+p and a few good dabs of butter.

(they almost look like red potatoes!)

Then just roast them for about 40-ish minutes, or until they’re cooked to your liking. Give them a good toss half way through the cooking time (or meticulously turn each piece over like I did…). You can add a little bit more butter at this point if that’s your thing (note: it most definitely is my thing).

And there you have it! How to roast radishes. Much like roasting any other vegetable, to be honest.

The end result is quite different to the raw version – soft and slightly sweet, but still with the slightly peppery, radishy flavour. It’s really interesting – and with the thin coating of melted butter, really tasty!

Have you ever tried roasting radishes? I wonder what I should roast next…

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Butter roasted radishes

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 40 mins

Total Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• 250 g radishes ~12 medium radishes
• 1 tbsp butter
• Salt
• Black pepper

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).
• Top and tail the radishes, then halve each one. Lay them out on a baking tray in a single layer, and add half the butter in small pieces. Season generously.
• Roast the radishes for about 20 minutes, then remove from the oven, and toss them around. Add the remaining butter, and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes (or until they're cooked to your liking).

Course: Side Dish

Author: Becca Heyes

Here’s another simple veggie side dish – Indian spiced potato wedges: