Radishes With Sweet Butter and Kosher Salt

By Gabrielle Hamilton

Radishes With Sweet Butter and Kosher Salt
Sarah Anne Ward for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Rebecca Bartoshesky.
Total Time
5 minutes
Rating
4(214)
Comments
Read comments

As is always the case with such a simple idea, success is in the quality of the ingredients. Cull any overgrown, cottony, spongy radishes, and keep the good ones fresh with ice and clean kitchen towels. Keep your butter at the perfect temperature, and be graceful on the plate, please.

Featured in: The Wonder of Three Ingredients

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:Serves 4
  • 1bunch red-globe or French-breakfast radishes, well washed to remove any sand, but left whole with a few stems intact
  • 4tablespoons excellent unsalted butter, waxy and cool but not cold
  • 1tablespoon excellent coarse kosher salt
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

107 calories; 12 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 0 grams protein; 103 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Divide the radishes among small plates.

  2. Step 2

    Neatly cut the butter into 4 small portions, and set on plates.

  3. Step 3

    Pile a small amount of salt on each plate.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

4 out of 5
214 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

brutallyfrank

I like to slather really good coarse-grained bread with the butter, put sliced radishes on top, and sprinkle liberally with salt. Yummy.

elle

I grew up with a version of this -- from my Russian-born grandmother. Thinly sliced radishes with either butter or schmaltz (never on the same table) and salt -- on rye bread. It's the most divine palate pleaser there is.

thank you for reminding me of this.

jae

If you are very lucky you can find - from a grower, or pick from your garden - a tiny pristine bunch of radishes and eat them stems, leaves and all.
They are served this way in Italy in the early spring - presented like a small, perfect bouquet with both olive oil (for the greens) and sweet butter (for the radishes) and coarse salt....
It's much like devouring spring....

McGoo

I like to eat this with anchovy-spiked compound butter as well! Though the classic is…well…classic. I reckon I’d be very happy as a radish farmer - relatively instant gratification in the garden and simple pleasure.

FrankW

I take it that for this recipe sweet butter is actually unsalted butter. In her Prune cookbook, sweet butter takes on another meaning.

FrankW`

Is the sweet butter (in the title but not in the ingredients list) in this recipe another name for unsalted butter?

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.