Roasted Radishes

Day 40 something of this stay at home order in the state of Hawaiʻi has made it clear that although there are no food shortages, per se, and there seems to be enough toilet paper, rice, and paper towels for each family to buy one, #quarantine cooking has been about what I call cooking Molokai style. Molokai has two main grocery stores in Kaunakakai: Friendly Market and Misaki Store. This small island relies on the weekly barge to bring in the food stuffs so cooking Molokai style is not about feeling ʻono for a particular dish, then going down to the store to pick up the ingredients. It is sure to make you frustrated if you drive to the main drag where the stores are lined up and find that no _____ came in on the barge. The way to cook on Molokai and the way to cook now is to go "look what get" and meal plan for the week accordingly while you are in the store.  It has been an adjustment for Big Spazz who is a daily shopper that cooks based on whatever he is hungry for. He is one of those cooks that gets an idea in his head and he will keep thinking about it until he makes it. I am more of a Molokai style, food security conscious, use what is in the kitchen first, meal planning and upcycle leftovers kind of gal. I think we just grew up differently and food security was an issue when I was younger. I tend to hold on to that all these years later.

In true Molokai style, we order vegetable boxes every two weeks from a farmer's market a few miles away. My mom told us about it and she tends to order specific staples, and then whatever else they have for these $20 boxes. We just order a box of "whatever" and then the box becomes a game and a challenge to find ways to use the veggies, cook with the veggies, and/or preserve the veggies as a way to not waste them. We just picked up our second box. From the first box I found ways to make our new go to crudite dip: dill and green onion dip as well as our new go to salty, sour lemon dill vinaigrette. We used that vinaigrette to drizzle on roasted cauliflower and steamed purple sweet potato. So good!

In this second box we found a bag of radishes. Love radishes, but I don't like them raw so we tried roasting them. This is now my new favorite roast veggie. It is a little crunchy and soft at the same time. I added the minced garlic at the end and it got a little crispy. It is almost like roasted parsnips and the roasting mellows out the bite of the raw radish.

Roasted Radishes

About 1/2 lb.  of radishes (if I were to buy this in the store, I would buy at least 1 pound, but it is what it is so I adjusted the recipe and time). Trim the top and stem ends, wash any dirt off, slice them in half or quarters. The importance of this step is just to get them about the same size. Some were so small I left whole and some were quartered. 

In a bowl, toss cut radishes with about 1 T olive oil and sprinkle with Hawaiian salt blend (I use Rockin H but I don't have the recipe - I just order it from my mom who makes if by the gallon full for boy 1 when he makes smoked meat).

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees with the cast iron skillet in the oven to preheat. When the oven is hot, arrange the oiled and salted radishes cut side down. Roast for about 10 minutes. The skin should bubble like lychee and the cut side should start to brown and the middle should still be a little firm. 

Mince a clove of garlic. At about 10 minutes when they are just starting to brown, I turn off the oven, sprinkle with the garlic and leave it in the hot oven for 3-5 minutes.