Radical Goat Cheese and Radish Muffins

Do you still have a bunch of radishes left over from last week that are looking a little wilty? Don’t throw them on the compost pile! I have just discovered a savory muffin recipe that will use make your radishes disappear and leave ’em begging for more! Found this one on Kitchn in a post by Kelli Foster.

Can you say “NOM”?

Don’t those look delish? Trust me, they are!

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You will want to preheat your oven to 375 F, and either grease your muffin pan or get out those extra muffin cups from your last family cupcake extravaganza. I went with the cups for easier clean up!

Next, slice your radishes thin. You may have noticed that some of your radishes have some holes inside. This happens when they get mature, and is just an indication that they are about as big as you want them to get (from the gardener’s perspective, anyway). They should taste the same as the others! Then you can melt your butter in a sauce-pan while you combine all your flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and garlic powder in a big bowl.

In a second bowl beat your eggs and add 5 tablespoons of the melted butter (once it has cooled a bit), honey, and buttermilk. At least that is what the recipe calls for. I totally forgot the honey and loved these muffins anyway (so if you are cutting the sugar out of your diet, feel free to leave it out!).

Also! I do not regularly keep buttermilk in my fridge! It is not a thing at my house, despite the manifold uses of buttermilk in making baked goods fluffy. I did my usual sub, and made my own with 2% milk and lemon juice. For future reference, add one tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of milk and let it sit for 5-10 minutes, and through the wonder of SCIENCE, you get buttermilk!

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After your dry ingredients are well mixed and your liquids are well mixed and your cocktail is well mixed (I stand by this), combine your wet and dry ingredients (not your cocktail; drink that)! Stir until just combined. Mine was uniformly wet throughout, but the original recipe makes it sound like you want it a little less so. Just use your best judgement (I trust you).

Next fold in your sliced radishes and goat cheese, holding back about 2oz of each to decorate the tops of the muffins.

A note on cheese: Some of you do not like goat cheese. I do not understand this. Goat cheese is awesome. It makes everything so creamy! However, if goat cheese is not your bag, I will suggest that feta would also work very well in these muffins. Yes I know that is another type of goat cheese. Fine. Use cheddar, and tell me how it goes.

You will then want to spoon your mixture into your muffin pan. Fill each cup about 3/4 full, top with a couple radish slices, a little left over cheese, a spoonful of the leftover butter, and sprinkle with pepper.

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Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

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No joke, I made 2 pans of this (one recipe) and they were gone in 24 hours. Buttery, savory, and healthy because you put vegetables in it, right? Right?? Work with me people!

Ok, just enjoy.

Recipe

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, divided
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons honey (if you feel like it!)
• 1 medium bunch radishes (about 2 cups), stems removed and sliced thin
• 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
• Fresh ground black pepper

Radishes, radishes, everywhere…

It is spring at Singing Whale Farm and our returning CSA members know what that means! It is going to start raining radishes! As farmers we love these guys because they grow fast and you can start them early. But I know I sometimes have trouble using them up before they go bad because there are usually so many!

Radishes are awesome in salads, sandwiches, and roasted. This year I have decided that I need some way to make their shelf-life last a little longer, and find some different ways to use them, so I gave this refrigerator pickle recipe a try. I admit to being very intimidated by the formal canning process so refrigerator pickles seem like an easy (and quick!) way to get my produce prepped!

Sweet and Spicy Pickled Radishes

Now I love, love, LOVE me some tacos, so when I found this recipe from the RebootedMom (https://www.rebootedmom.com/sweet-and-spicy-pickled-radishes/) I knew I would need to try it. They are touted as the perfect topping for any type of taco, and was betting they would be awesome on sandwiches as well!

Start with about a pound of radishes. I had what looked like a standard bunch, but I didn’t weigh them.

After you clean them up, slice them thin and dice up a jalapeno pepper. Next you chop up a bunch of cilantro. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup, but I tend to eyeball my herbs (with admittedly varied results). I was prepared to stick them into one 16oz canning jar. But pretty soon it became clear that I would need 2, even if I packed them tight.

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Meanwhile on the stovetop combine I combined vinegar, sugar, and salt. Heat until all the sugar and salt are dissolved completely then let it cool down to room temperature. While I was waiting for things to cool I went out to mow the yard. By the time I was done it was cool.

Next you pack the radishes, diced peppers, and cilantro into your jars! Two 16 oz jars worked out just right. (Note: I didn’t double any of the recipe, I just tried to split things evenly between the two jars!). Then you put in the mustard seeds and the red pepper flakes. Again, eye-balled the red pepper. Luckily that did not come back to bite me!

When the vinegar solution was completely cool I poured it over the top of the radishes. You want to completely cover them, so if you have extra space, you top off the jar with some more vinegar.

I then set them out at room temperature for about 24 hours to really bring those flavors out, and then stuck them in the fridge! Easy peasy! The brine turned a really neat red color.

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Best part of this recipe? Took me about 20 minutes of “work” if that. Super easy!

Recipe:

• 1 lb radishes sliced thin
• 1/4 C. cilantro chopped
• 1 ea. jalapeno stem removed, finely diced
• 1 C. vinegar or more as needed
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes optional
• 1 Tbsp mustard seed

Keeps in the fridge for 7-10 days.

Final result? Tasty! So far I have had them with brats, avocado toast, veggie burgers and quinoa salad and it worked great on all of them! Ironically have not made any tacos this week, but I am betting they will work as described. They have more kick than I was expecting thanks to the pepper, but they mellow out after a few days in the fridge.

I had a lot of fun with this recipe and am looking forward to pickling a lot of stuff this season, so check back for more recipes that will be shared on the blog! Meanwhile if you want to see some other interesting recipes you should head on over to RebootedMom.com (https://www.rebootedmom.com/) for interesting articles on Food, DIY, Gardening and more!