Radishes with butter and za’atar

Radishes and butter is a classic French “thing” but I have never had them with za’atar before. I found this recipe in Alison Roman’s book Dining In from which I have been cooking lately and thought I’d share it here, slightly adapted to my own kitchen.

Za’atar is a middle eastern spice blend made with fresh thyme, oregano, sesame seeds, sumac and salt. You can make your own or buy a good za’atar at a middle eastern store if you have one near you. If you are making it try one tablespoon of each of the herbs and sesame seeds and add salt.

The radishes cook very quickly, in about a minute and a half, so trust the instructions and do not overcook. The radishes should have a bit of a crunch when cooked and they lose this very rapidly so be careful.

The butter-vinegar sauce is a derivation from the classic beurre blanc. The butter is thickened in the pan but not melted so the sauce is creamy, not oily.

This seems to me would be great with scrambled eggs, I’ll have to try it with the beautiful eggs I got recently from Tracey at Egg Schells.

Enjoy.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 shallot, chopped

1 bunch radishes, green attached, halved lengthwise

1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar (or use white wine vinegar)

3 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons za’atar (see note above)

Directions:

Heat oil in a skillet large enough to hold the radishes in one layer.

Add the shallots and cook until they soften, a couple of minutes.

Add the radishes and cook about 1.5 minutes.

Add the vinegar and butter and finish the cooking for not more than a minute, letting the butter soften into the sauce.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and the za’atar and serve immediately.

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