Radish Greens Pesto: the Antidote to Hand Sanitizer and Social Distancing

When life gives you radishes, especially with beautiful, healthy tops, you make radish greens pesto. My first delivery of produce from Golden Forest Farm included a beautiful bunch of French Breakfast radishes, the elongated cousin of the common round radish. A little more delicate in flavor, they're easier to slice, dice and shave into salads or onto any dish that needs a gentle touch of color and crisp bite.

My beautiful radish bouquet taking a bath.

After washing my bouquet of radishes, I separated the greens from the pinkish-reddish "fingers" and used them to make a quick pesto. Then I cooked spaghetti, dropped some frozen peas into the pasta at the end and tossed everything together after draining. For a printable recipe, click here.

This is such a simple recipe with so few ingredients that it might make you wonder if it's lacking in flavor, but that first forkful loaded onto your taste buds will express a more sophisticated combination of flavors. The delicate peppery bite of the greens, the sweetness of the peas, the crunch of the radish slices against the toothy pasta...it's all so surprising, so comforting. And isn't that a good thing during our new normal of sanitizing and social distancing? Yes, quite the antidote!

You may want to lick the container.

The greens before giving up their spicy notes to the pesto.

"And for my vegan and dairy-sensitive friends, try replacing the cheese in the pesto with this--one cup of breadcrumbs toasted with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Toast over medium-high heat in a non-stick pan. Cool and use 1/4 cup in the pesto."