Radish Greens – Who Knew They Were Delicious?

So, in keeping with the theme that my blog has ABSOLUTELY no theme, I have decided to share with you small number of faithful followers something I “cooked” yesterday. The definition of cook, according to my highly technical Google search term “cook definition,” is to

prepare (food, a dish, or a meal) by combining and heating the ingredients in various ways.

As this recipe required no heating whatsoever, I suppose I am stretching the definition a little by saying I cooked it.  Especially since, as far as I know, there was no chemical reaction in keeping with something like ceviche to stand in for the heat element. I guess what I am trying to say is that I would like to share with you small number of followers something I created by mixing a few things together in a small, 4-cup Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus… in orange!

And now for the pre-recipe, wholly unnecessary but undoubtedly expected, overshare.  My boyfriend and I are in a CSA and we picked up our first share yesterday.  Earlier in the day, Pete had received an email with the contents of the upcoming box:  braising greens, arugula, red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, summer choi (another word for more leafy greens), radishes, turnips and sage.  The radishes and turnips came with their topping of green leaves which, after researching, I discovered were also edible and rumored to be rather delicious.  Having looked at the list of salad greens, salad greens and more salad greens, we decided to check out the Union Square Green Market in search of a few items to mix with all the salad greens to make it, well, more salad-y.  At the market we acquired sugar snap peas, heirloom tomatoes, yellow squash and two bunches of beets (because they looked so good AND there was a deal!) complete the their greens.  We then proceeded to the CSA pick-up location where we acquired an ungodly amount of leafy greens.  I mean, I knew there would be greens but this was like 3 bags full of greens.  So, so many greens.  It was intimidating!  What is one to do with so many greens??  How many salads can you really eat before the greens get all slimey and gross?  It was a race against the clock!  When we got home we decided the best idea was to divide and conquer.  Pete started roasting the beets and consolidating the bounty and I started researching uses for beet, turnip, and radish greens.  What I found was intriguing and, in the end, delicious.  I pulled it off this highly awesome website kept by a Parisian.  You should check it out.  She has cool things.

Radish Leaf Pesto

I know it’s not a beautiful picture but Pete and I ate too much of the pesto to do anything much more attractive than this.

2 large handfuls of radish leaves
1 ounce hard cheese (I used Parmesan)
1 ounce nuts (I used almonds here and, because the greens were older and more bitter, I used closer to 2 ounces I would guess)
2 cloves garlic
a bit of lemon zest
juice of half a lemon (also an add-on from the recipe and again because of the bitterness of the older leaves)
2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for consistency
salt, pepper and ground chilli pepper (I left that out) to taste

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and process in short bursts until it’s smooth.  Add more oil as needed for consistency.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.  For longevity, Clotilde Dusoulier, the author of the blog, advices to either freeze it or pack it in an airtight container and that if you add a thin layer of oil to the top it will stay fresh longer.  I appreciated the advice but I doubt it will be necessary – this pesto will be gone within a day.

Tags: CSA, radish greens, Radish Leaf Pesto, salad, Union Square Green Market