So much to do, so little time!
I hope you all have yummy dinners in the making for the days ahead. Tonight I’m making Balthazar’s Moules à la Marinière, an on old favorite that takes no time to throw together, peasant bread, and this salad, a mix of paper-thin watermelon radishes, Cara Cara oranges — so sweet and pretty — toasted walnuts and goat cheese, dressed with shallots macerated in vinegar, olive oil, and chives.
A few weeks ago, we received an enormous bag of watermelon radishes, which couldn’t be more beautiful, in our first winter CSA delivery and have been enjoying variations of this salad ever since. If you don’t have radishes on hand, turnips work, too, and so do beets (cooked first, though raw might be interesting? and messy?)
Wishing many of you a Merry Christmas!
PS: Cranberry Buttermilk Cake for Xmas morning. Batter can be made tonight.
Watermelon Radish, Orange & Goat Cheese Salad
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A simple salad inspired by a bounty of watermelon radishes in our CSA, the beautiful citrus at the market, and the classic combination of goat cheese, walnuts and citrus. A mandoline is helpful here. This is my favorite. To toast nuts: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place walnuts on a baking sheet and cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until slightly browner and smelling fragrant. Dump the walnuts into a tea towel. Rub off the skins. Remove walnuts from towel, leaving skins behind. If you wish to get more of the skin off, place walnuts in a strainer and shake it aggressively.
Ingredients
- 1 shallot or half of a small red onion
- 2 to 3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
- kosher salt
- 2 to 3 watermelon radishes
- 2 to 3 oranges, clementines, grapefruit, etc. (I used Cara Cara oranges, which are sweet, pretty and delicious)
- a handful of walnuts, toasted and chopped (see notes)
- goat cheese to taste
- chives, minced, optional, but they add some nice color
- olive oil to taste
Instructions
- Mince shallot. Place in small bowl. Cover with 2 to 3 tablespoons of the vinegar depending on how big of a salad you are making. Add a pinch of salt. Set aside.
- Cut off one end of the radish. Leave the other intact so you have a handle when you run the radish down your mandoline. Peel the radishes if you wish, though it is by no means necessary. Thinly slice on a mandoline. (Note: I ate one slice unpeeled and thought it tasted fine but went ahead and peeled them anyway because I thought the salad might look prettier if they were peeled, but I don’t think it actually really matters.) Arrange radish slices on a platter. I try to fold some of them so they’re not all squished down in one flat layer, but arrange however you wish. Season all over with salt.
- Cut off each end of each orange. Squeeze each end over the radishes, then discard. Use a sharp knife to remove the skin from the orange. Cut in between membranes to remove each slice. Squeeze remaining membrane all over the radishes to extract any juice. Scatter oranges over the radishes.
- Scatter walnuts and goat cheese to taste over the radishes and oranges. Pour macerated shallots and vinegar over top. Drizzle olive oil to taste (one to two tablespoons) over top. Scatter chives over top if using.
- Let sit a few minutes (or longer — it benefits from a brief rest) before serving.
Our first winter CSA: 30lbs of root vegetables. I can’t say enough good things about our Roxbury Farm CSA, which delivers to Columbia County, the Capital Region, Westchester County and Manhattan. Everything from the arugula to the butternut squash has been exceptional.
Liz says
Breathtaking!! Where oh where to find the radishes? But I imagine even lowly radishes would be almost as picturesques sliced thinly. Happy Holidays to you and thank you for brightening every week of the year.
alexandra says
Oh, thank you, Liz, you are too kind! Happy New Year to you!
Radishes are from my CSA. Aren’t they stunning?
Alicia (foodycat) says
So pretty! Merry Christmas Ali!
alexandra says
Thankn you, Alicia! Merry Christmas to you and Happy New Year!!
Carol at Wild Goose Tea says
You get the crown for the most outstanding salad I’ve seen in a while. Totally gorgeous. Plus I am VERY curious as to what it would taste like. I am with the other commenter—Where did you get the those fabulous radishes?
alexandra says
Thank you, Carol! The fabulous radishes are from my CSA. Aren’t they gorgeous? They would fool anyone, too — not so pretty before they are sliced. Regular radishes would work fine, though the large width of the watermelon radish makes it especially nice.
Happy New Year!
Alison says
Beautiful salad. Sounds delicious!
alexandra says
Thank you, Alison!
Annamaria says
Hi Alexandra
I’m fascinated by your watermelon salad and I want to try it this summer – I live in Melbourne Australia. I’ve never heard of watermelon radishes and you say you got them from your CSA. What is CSA? Just wondering where I could get this fruit (or is it a vegetable)?
Annamaria
Susan partington says
I live in British Columbia and have never heard of watermelon radishes.
Are they available in B.C. and where might I find them.
I am not familiar with the term CSA
An early reply would be appreciated.
BEAUTIFUL ARRANGEMENT for the salad
alexandra says
Hi Susan,
We get them here (upstate, NY) in the late fall and throughout the winter. They are the most beautiful color! Very hard to find in any grocery store as far as I know. Here is a little bit more about CSAs, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture — basically, consumers buy a farm share before the growing season, and every week during the growing season, they receive a box of produce. The idea is that the farmer has the guarantee of the money before the growing season begins: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mu-Ypmtqog6CaVtM2KsVsivAisZpzbHyu7qXVoXBRoU/edit
Jennifer says
Hi, I am planning to make this beautiful salad course for our Christmas dinner. Would you be able to tell me about how many this recipe serves? Thanks so much!
alexandra says
Hi Jennifer,
I would say this serves 4 as a side. But the recipe scales really well. If you are serving this for a large crowd, I would double the quantities and assemble it on two large platters. Let me know if there is anything else. Merry Christmas! I am making this Xmas Eve.
Jennifer says
Perfect! Thanks so much! Merry Christmas to you too!
Amarit says
I was just googling recipes for Watermelon radishes since I have a ton from our CSA as well. Only when i got to the end did I realize yours are from Roxbury Farms as well! And I just picked up some cara cara oranges at the co-op, so I look forward to making this for dinner. Thanks!
alexandra says
So funny! Are you doing the winter CSA? I also recently made sweet potato quesadillas with a watermelon radish salsa. I don’t give exact proportions, just the ingredients, but it’s pretty easy — just chop everything up and season to taste. I can’t wait for the cara cara oranges — they are so good!
Alex says
Thank you for this interesting recipe! I really love it 😀
Best regards from my holidays in South Tyrol
★★★★★