Fabulous radishes
Nicola Galloway shares a sweet and savoury option, with a focus on pink vegetables to remind us of the summer produce to come.
The produce colours of spring are generally of the green hue, but today I am bringing forth a change of perspective with a focus on the maroon and pink spectrum. A whisper and a reminder of the brighter coloured summer produce to come. It is not long now.
To keep things interesting this week I present a savoury and sweet recipe. First up, roasted radishes. Not the usual preparation for this ‘‘salad’’-type vegetable, but roasting radishes does something quite fabulous to them. Then a rhubarb cake, but not just any rhubarb cake, a custard and rhubarb cake, if you please.
Blistered maple roasted radishes
If you haven’t eaten roasted radishes before you are in for a treat with this recipe. The cooking mellows the bite (pungency) of the radishes and a drizzle of maple syrup pre-cooking balances the flavours perfectly. The key is to cook them hot and quick on a preheated roasting tray for wonderfully blistered radishes. A creamy dipping sauce completes this dish for a wonderful spring vegetable side.
Preparation time: 10 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Serves 4 as a side
■ Bunch of radishes, about 400g
■ 1 tbsp olive oil
■ 1 tsp maple syrup
■ Pinch of salt
■ Cracked black pepper
Creamy dipping sauce
■ 2 tbsp unsweetened natural yoghurt
■ 1 tbsp mayonnaise
■ 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
■ 2-3 chives, finely chopped
Preheat the oven to 210C (fan 190C). Place a roasting tray in the oven to preheat for 10-15 minutes.
Cut the radishes into similar sized pieces, roughly 3-4cm in width. This will likely be a combination of some whole (small) radishes, and halved and quartered (large) radishes.
Once the roasting tray is piping hot, remove it from the oven. Add the prepared radishes along with the olive oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper. Toss to evenly coat and return the tray to the oven. Roast for about 15 minutes until the radishes are blistered and nicely coloured.
While the radishes are cooking, combine the dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl.
Tip the roasted radishes onto a serving plate with the sauce on the side.
Best served hot, but also quite delicious cold as leftovers the next day.
Rhubarb and custard ginger cake
Rhubarb is quite the unusual fruit, in fact it is a vegetable (a close relative to sorrel), that we treat like a fruit. It has the most unique flavour, that we all know improves with some sweetness to balance the tartness. Rhubarb and custard are a fantastic match and in this cake I
combine the two. This is a rustic cake, and while it might look quite elaborate, the components come together quite easily, plus some creativity involved to cut the rhubarb pieces to fit the cake.
This cake needs to be prepared ahead to allow cooling and chilling time for the custard to set.
Preparation time: 30 minutes Cook time: 50 minutes Serves 10
Custard
■ 11⁄ cups (375ml) milk
4
■ 3 tbsp cornflour or custard powder
■ 2 tbsp sugar
■ 1 tsp vanilla extract
■ 2 free-range eggs
Ginger cake batter
■ 1⁄ cup (70g) packed brown sugar
3
■ 1⁄ cup (80ml) olive oil
3
■ 1⁄ cup (120ml) natural yoghurt
2
■ 2 free-range eggs
■ 11⁄ cups (220g) plain flour (can use 2 gluten-free flour)
■ 11⁄ tsp baking powder
2
■ 1 tsp ground ginger
■ 1⁄ tsp mixed spice
2
■ Pinch of salt
■ Rhubarb
■ 5-6 large rhubarb stalks (about 400g)
■ 2 tbsp sugar
Preheat the oven to 170C (fan 150C). Line the base of a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper and grease the sides.
Prepare the custard. Pour 1⁄ cup of
4 the milk into a medium saucepan. Add the cornflour/custard powder, sugar and vanilla. Whisk into a smooth paste. Mix in the remaining milk and place over a low to medium heat. Whisk over the heat until thickened, about 5 minutes. The custard will be quite thick, this is purposeful.
Remove the custard from the heat and pour into a bowl to cool a little. Whisk periodically while preparing the cake batter to prevent a skin forming.
Make the cake batter. In a mixing bowl whisk together the sugar, olive oil, yoghurt and eggs until smooth.
Add the flour, baking powder, spices and salt and use a spatula to fold together until just combined – don’t over mix. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin.
Cut the rhubarb stalks in half lengthways to create long thin strips. Cut and trim the rhubarb and arrange in a single layer – red side up – over the cake batter. Sprinkle over 1 tbsp of sugar.
Whisk the two eggs into the now warm custard and pour this over the rhubarb topped cake batter. Arrange a second layer of rhubarb strips on the surface of the custard. Sprinkle with the second tbsp of sugar.
Place in the oven and bake for about 50 minutes until the custard is just set around the sides, while still a little wobbly in the middle. Cool in the tin sitting on a rack. Once cold, transfer to the fridge for at least 6 hours for the custard to lightly set.
To serve, remove the cake tin and use a small serrated knife to carefully cut into wedges.
Keep any leftover cake in a container in the fridge and consume within 3 days.