Spice with crunch

Round and red and crisp, they’re casually tossed on the plate at your favorite taco stand or jumbled in a jar at the salad bar, full of color and crunch but ultimately signifying nothing. But hold on -- there’s more to the radish than you might think.

The simplest way to prove it is to set out a chilled bouquet of them on a plate with a tub of softened butter and some coarse salt. Smear a radish in the butter and then dip it in the salt. Take a bite. It explodes with contrasting flavors and textures: sweet and salty, spicy and cold, crisp and rich.

This is about as complex as any dish you can devise but it requires only three ingredients. Clearly, there are unexpected depths to this little root.

That’s just a start. Quarter radishes lengthwise and sprinkle them with lemon juice and salt for another quick nibble. Slice them thin and toss the little red-rimmed moons with butter lettuce; notice how the crisp spice plays against the tender greens. Use a toothpick to spear together a radish half and a bite of silky smoked salmon.

You can even eat the leaves. In fact, you should. They have the texture of watercress and a bit of its flavor, but with that great mustardy radish bite as well. If you’re roasting or grilling meat, serve it with a simple salad of radishes quartered lengthwise with their tops attached and dress it with vegetable oil, red wine vinegar and a couple tablespoons of the carving juices. This time notice how the crispiness and spice serves to slice through all that smoky meat.

But wait, there’s more. Have you ever cooked a radish? Braise or glaze them with a splash of liquid and a dab of butter, or even roast them quickly. The crispness softens just a little and that sharp flavor loses some of its bite. It becomes something like a brightly colored tiny turnip.

Which makes sense. Radishes and turnips are members of the same family: brassicas, or mustardy vegetables (along with arugula, broccoli and turnips).

The distinctive radish flavor, which is even more pronounced in its elephantine cousin the horseradish, comes from a chemical called isothiocyanate, one so pungent that when isolated it makes a very nice organic pesticide. Bugs, apparently, don’t share our affection for the complexity brought by spice.

Although you can find radishes in the market all year round, this is really the season to get them at their best. First of all, they’re extremely fast growers (witness countless elementary school science experiments). They usually are ready to pick within a month of planting, which makes them a natural for cool-weather growing areas, but also for farmers who want to put in a quick crop between winter and summer plantings.

Somewhat perversely, the one thing radishes don’t like is heat. When the temperature of the ground exceeds 70 degrees by much, their flavor suffers; that pleasant little mustardy tickle becomes a full-fledged sting. Also, radishes that grow too big too quickly tend to crack or have hollow centers. They’re pithy rather than crunchy.

Look for sprightly leaves

When you’re shopping, look for radishes that are about as big around as a penny, certainly no bigger than a nickel. Leaves are the best indicator of freshness. They wilt and yellow very quickly, so choose bunches with sprightly and fresh-looking greens.

While our radish selection most of the year is limited to the familiar round red varieties (‘Cherry Belle,’ or one of its cousins), in the spring and early summer we get to meet the rest of the family. The so-called ‘Easter Eggs’ aren’t actually a single type of radish, but a seed assortment of various round radish varieties in colors including white, pale pink, purply pink, red and crimson.

The long, tapering ‘French Breakfast’ is another favorite, with a mild bite and a compelling red and white color scheme that brings to mind strawberries dipped in cream. Never mind that the French don’t eat radishes for breakfast. Another radish that pops up now is the pure white, very thin ‘White Icicle,’ which is nearly sweet.

And these are just the so-called spring radishes. You might also find the last of the winter varieties, such as the black radish, the Central European favorite that has such a powerful bite, and the many Asian radishes, such as the giant daikon and the smaller shinrimei (often called watermelon radish in the West because of its pale red heart).

In fact, rather than a poverty of choices, you could almost say that at this time of year we have an embarrassment of radishes.

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Shrimp ceviche with radishes

Total time: 15 minutes plus refrigeration

Servings: 8 to 10

1 pound large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/3cup chopped green onions

1 teaspoon salt

3/4cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 5 to 7 limes)

2 bunches radishes, tops removed, roots trimmed

2 ears corn

1 avocado, ripe but still firm

12 mint leaves

1. Cut the shrimp into 1-inch pieces and combine it in a bowl with the onions, salt and lime juice. Cover tightly and refrigerate until the shrimp is firm and white, about 3 hours.

2. Cut the radishes into half-inch wedges and add to the ceviche. Cut the corn kernels from the cob and add to the ceviche. Peel and pit the avocado, dice the flesh and add it to the ceviche. Tear the mint leaves into quarters and gently stir everything together.

3. Serve in juice or martini glasses or in a bowl with tortilla chips.

Each serving: 83 calories; 7 grams protein; 7 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 4 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 54 mg. cholesterol; 302 mg. sodium.

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Radish and goat cheese canapes

Total time: 15 minutes

Servings: 8 to 10

2 bunches radishes

9 ounces fresh goat cheese

1 baguette loaf

Coarse salt

1. Trim the tops from the radishes and wash and pat dry. Chop some of the brightest and freshest tops to make two-thirds cup.

2. Pulse the chopped tops with the goat cheese in a small food processor until nearly smooth.

3. Thinly slice the radishes. Slice the baguette thin and lightly toast.

4. Spread 2 to 3 teaspoons of the goat cheese mixture on each slice. Top each slice with 3 or 4 radish slices and sprinkle with coarse salt. Serve on a platter lined with remaining radish tops.

Each serving: 148 calories; 7 grams protein; 15 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 1 gram fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 12 mg. cholesterol; 268 mg. sodium.

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Yogurt rice with radishes

Total time: 30 minutes plus chilling time

Servings: 8

Note: This can be served either as a side dish for 8 or as a vegetarian main course for 4. Black mustard seeds can be found at Indian groceries.

1 cup basmati rice

1 1/2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons oil

3/4 cup cashews

1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 1/4 cups whole fat yogurt

1 cup milk

1 bunch radishes, tops removed

1. Bring the rice, water and 1 teaspoon salt to a simmer in a large saucepan. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until rice is done, about 12 minutes. Immediately stir roughly with a spatula to crush many of the grains of rice. It will clump, but that’s as it should be.

2. Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the cashews and cook, stirring, until they begin to brown, about 2 minutes. Add the black mustard and cumin seeds and cook, continuing to stir, until the seeds sputter and pop, another 1 minute. Reserve half of the cashews and stir everything else into the rice.

3. Combine the yogurt and milk and stir it into the rice. The texture should be something like a good risotto: slightly clumping and just liquid enough to flow. Cover tightly and chill until ready to serve.

4. Dice half the radishes into one-fourth inch pieces and stir into the rice. Cut remaining radishes into one-eighth-inch slivers.

5. Season the rice to taste with salt and add a little more milk if necessary to correct the texture. Mound the chilled rice on a serving platter and scatter the reserved cashews and slivered radishes over top.

Each serving: 217 calories; 6 grams protein; 28 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 9 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 9 mg. cholesterol; 37 mg. sodium.