Radishes are so often eaten raw but take on a mellower flavour when cooked. This recipe makes use of their peppery leaves and partners with other seasonal highlights - new potatoes, fennel and wet garlic. It is great as a side dish for meat or fish.
(When the wet garlic season is over, use three garlic cloves instead - crush then and add to the pan at the same time as the fennel.)
Servings:4
1 wet garlic
40g butter
600g new potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
6 anchovy fillets in oil, drained and chopped
1 large fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced
250g French breakfast radishes, with leaves
2 tbsp chopped mint
2 tbsp chopped tarragon
Heat the oven to 180C. Slice the top off the wet garlic to just reveal the unformed cloves (keep the stalk to use in another dish as you would a leek). Season the exposed garlic, put a small piece of the butter on top, wrap loosely in foil and roast for an hour or so until the flesh is soft.
Boil the potatoes until just tender, drain, return to the pan and cover to let them finish cooking in their own steam.
When the garlic is ready, take it out of the oven to cool. Heat the rest of the butter and the oil in large frying pan. Add the anchovy fillets, pressing down on them as they cook so they melt into the butter and oil. Add the sliced fennel, toss round and cook for 5 mins until tenderising.
As the fennel is cooking prep the radishes: pull off the peppery, vibrant leaves then wash and drain them. Trim the radish tops, wash, halve lengthways and add to the pan. Stir round. Slice the potatoes in half lengthways and add those too. Season. Cook for a few minutes so the radishes can soften and the potatoes brown a little. Scoop the soft garlic flesh out of the roasted bulb and stir into the pan. Take off the heat, tear over the radish leaves, stir in the herbs, and serve.
(This recipe originally featured for Borough Market.)