June 30, 2020
What I have always loved about food and cooking is the connection to others. The sense of community that comes with sitting around a table, sharing conversation, and food prepared with intention and love. The memories last long after a meal ends. I found this is what I missed the most being isolated in quarantine. Cooking for, and with, people.
I have avoided this space over the past few months, mostly because I didn’t know quite how to show up here. Sharing a recipe about what I was cooking seemed silly in the face of a global COVID-19 pandemic, and then during the recent protests about social injustice after George Floyd’s death.
What I know is that food connects us. Leaving chicken soup on friends’ doorsteps, and receiving dinner or cookies in return was everything during quarantine. The deep, painful conversations with friends recently about social injustice have been around a table every time.
One of my favorite quotes is by Chef Leah Chase, known as the Queen of Creole cuisine, who famously fed politicians and Freedom Riders during the Civil Rights movement in her New Orleans restaurant, Dooky Chase. “Food builds big bridges. If you can eat with someone you can learn from them and when you learn from someone you can make big changes. We changed the course of America in this restaurant over bowls of gumbo. We can talk to each other and relate to each other when we eat together.”
Butter, Radishes, and Salt
This is less of a recipe and more about how to assemble a snack or an appetizer. Butter, radishes, and salt bring back a childhood food memory for me. Sitting at my dad’s elbow, he would spread butter on a slice of white bread, thinly slice a radish, and layer it on half of the open sandwich. Then he would fold the bread in half over the radishes and hand it to me. Sometimes he would add thin slices of onion on top of the radishes which added another texture to the sandwich.
One of the first things I shared with friends as we began to reconnect in person was this appetizer of butter, radishes, and salt on French bread. The salt removes any harshness from the radish and helps the radish slices melt into the smooth butter. Use a good quality of each ingredient since there are only a few components here. Simple, but comforting.
Radishes (I recommend using fresh from a farmer’s market if you can - grocery store radishes are usually bland in my experience.)
Butter (Use a good quality such as Kerrygold or a European variety that have become more accessible in stores. This will make all the difference.)
Flaky sea salt or good quality Kosher salt
French bread, sliced 1/2-inch thick
Carefully slice radishes thinly on a mandolin or with a sharp knife. Liberally spread butter on the slices of bread. Top each with a layer of the sliced radishes, and sprinkle with salt. Serve as an appetizer with a chilled glass of wine.