Too many people think of radishes as a root vegetable to simply eat raw, either sliced up on a salad, or to be included on a vegetable plate with some dip. Also, when they are lucky enough to get radishes with their greens still attached, they discard the greens. But, radishes take well to cooking. Their spiciness is tamed, and their sweetness is released. And their greens are delicious when sautéed or braised.
This recipe follows the formula of my Frittata Mother Dish Technique. Don’t think of this recipe as a stand-alone thing. Learn to make frittatas and mix them up with different ingredients as the seasons bring different options to the table.
The stems of the radish are tender and flavorful, so include the stems with the leaves. Radish greens grow right next to the ground, so they should be properly washed to remove any sandy grit that may be stuck to them. The easiest way to do this is to fill a bowl with water, and then immerse the greens in the water and swirl them around. Any sandy grit will sink to the bottom of the bowl. Pull the greens out and see if there is any grit in the bottom of the bowl. If so, dump the water and repeat the process until no grit is released. I do this in my salad spinner, so once the greens are grit free, it’s a simple next step to dry them out.
To make the frittata, grab a 10” non-stick, oven-safe skillet. Start by dicing a medium onion and chopping up the radish roots. Sauté them together over medium high heat with a teaspoon of salt and enough olive oil to make them glisten, without any oil pools in the bottom of the pan. When the onions are soft and translucent add a couple cloves of minced garlic and sauté another minute or so. Then add the cleaned and chopped greens to the skillet. At first the greens will fill the skillet to the top, but they will quickly wilt down to a much smaller volume. Beat up 8 large eggs (or 6 duck eggs!) with an ounce of heavy cream, a pinch of salt and several twists of the pepper grinder. Remove the skillet from the heat and pour the egg mixture over the hot vegetables and give a quick stir to suspend some of the vegetables in the eggs. Top the frittata with crumbled feta or crumbled chèvre. Transfer the skillet to an oven preheated to 325° F. Expect the dish to take about 15 minutes to cook through but start checking at 10 minutes. If you shake the pan, there should be no jiggle. If you insert a toothpick into the middle, it should come out clean. The best frittata has a nice custardy texture, without anything being raw. If you don’t cook long enough, there will be some runny egg in the middle of the frittata. If you cook too long, the eggs will become firm, losing that custardy magic.
Photo Walk Through of Recipe
Radish and Greens Frittata
Equipment
- 10” oven-safe non-stick skillet
Ingredients
- 1 bunch radishes, including their greens
- 1 medium yellow onion (6-8 oz) diced
- 1-2 cloves garlic minced
- olive oil
- 8 large eggs see note
- 2 oz cream see note
- 4 oz chèvre or feta crumbled
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Separate the radishes from their greens. Clean and chop the radishes. Clean and chop the radish greens.
- Sauté the dieced onion and the chopped radishes in olive oil with about ½ tsp of salt on medium high heat. Use enough oil to make everything glisten, but not have a pool of olive oil underneath. 1-2 tablespoons should work. Sauté, stirring frequently, until softened. Expect about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic to the pan, and sauté for another minute or two.
- Add the chopped radish greens to the skillet. Initially, they may come close to overflowing the pan, but they will quickly wilt, reducing their volume. When all of the greens are fully wilted, you are ready to add the eggs.
- While the vegetables sauté, beat the eggs with the cream, ½ tsp of salt and a few cranks of the pepper grinder.
- Evenly distribute the vegetables in the pan and pour the egg mixture over. Give a quick stir to suspend some of the vegetables off the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top.
- Transfer the pan to the pre-heated oven and cook until done. Timing will vary for various reasons. Other than the true oven temperature, the biggest variable is the amount of seasonal vegetables that are in the pan. As they have just completed cooking, they hold a lot of heat. The more of them, the quicker the cook. Start checking for doneness after about 10 minutes. There should be no jiggle if you shake the pan. A toothpick test can reveal if there is any runny egg. You are going for a custardy egg. Too little time is runny and too much time is rubbery.
Notes
- If you have access to duck eggs, use 6 duck eggs instead of 8 large chicken eggs. The larger yolk to white ratio that duck eggs have makes an indulgent frittata.
- The cream is to add milk-fat to enhance the creaminess of the final dish. You can use half-and-half, or whole milk if you don't have cream. If you only have 2% or skim milk, just skip the dairy. The frittata will still be good, but it won't be as custardy as it could be.
