5 Ravishing Radish Recipes For Springtime

With all the trendy spring vegetables in the spotlight — ramps and fiddleheads, we're looking at you (for now) — we occasionally disregard the humble and delicious (and frankly, sexy) radish. These peppery root vegetables aren't just for thinly slicing and then picking out of a salad. Besides being crazy healthy, they're delicious pickled, sautéed, grilled, braised and, yes, fine, raw in a salad. But don't pick them out— they're the whole point of the dish.

This combination is sometimes called pico de gallo because of the chile con limón sprinkled over the top. Jicama is a crunchy, juicy root vegetable with white flesh and an affinity for both citrus juice and chilies. For more heat, you can substitute ground chile pequín or chile de arbol for the chile con limón. Radishes are another much-loved vegetable in Mexico, and they bring both color and another kind of zip to this salsa.

Not so long ago, radishes were only eaten raw, on a salad or as a crunchy crudité. All kinds of creative ways have been discovered to coax out their naturally sweet flavor with heat by roasting, braising — and now grilling.

Served whole, cooked radishes are a real treat. Small white baby turnips with their greens are lovely prepared this way, too. Be aware that these cook fast, going from tender to mush in a blink.

As much as everyone loves the occasional so-so Chinese food delivered right to their door, often it's much more fulfilling and significantly less gross to make dinner yourself. If it's Sunday and you're about to binge on food (and AMC), we understand. Put on your pj's, earmark this recipe, and move on to a different chapter. But if you've got plans later and don't want to be weighted down, this recipe is light and quick, and the poaching liquid doubles as your sauce, so that's one less pan to clean up.

Josephine Proul tells us that the idea for this salad was that it'd be like a radish crudo, made with thinly sliced watermelon and Easter egg radishes. "Some people think radishes are spicy or bitter, but this salad has some contrast in it," she says. There's citrus for acidity, a mint vinaigrette for texture and freshness, and almond, "which plays like cheese or meat for a rounding effect," she explains.