Creativity and Radish Salad

What does creativity mean?

Creativity doesn't exist in the void otherwise babies would be creative geniuses which they clearly are not. They are a pile of mewling and shitting neuroses.

Creativity works in a context. You take what has come before you and you push it further. Edgier, more vibrant, more in tune with the society of today and tomorrow not yesterday.

Whether scientist or artist, creativity lies in pushing the boundaries outwards in different directions and not in the trivial way.

It's straightforward to make an Indian dish with a non-Indian ingredient like fava beans but true creativity comes from reimagining something that is a classic for good reason in a radically different context.

The triad of radish, salt and butter is a classic one. Radishes, cold butter, sprinkle of salt, sprinkle of herbs. Not exactly rocket science but a potent combination that has gotten many a French housewife and her English counterpart in the 19th century through a dry spell on the table.

Today that butter would be cultured unsalted butter but once upon a time that's all that was available. The defaults have changed so we have to work with the times and specify it.

Why does something so simple work? First off, you have the pungency of the radishes particularly in late summer that is cut down to size by the fat of the butter. The salt is necessary otherwise you wouldn't taste any of the herbs at all. Fatty, pungent, fragrant and salty. Your tongue and nose are loving it.

This combination is well known across the world. There is a classic Persian salad platter consisting of radishes, feta, and herbs. They are just piled onto a dish side by side and the eater can pick or choose as they please. The herbs can be more than one — parsley, mint, tarragon, pepper cress, flat chives all work. Paired with a flat lavash and tucked in, it's as simple as it is delightful.

It's the same combination of pungent radishes, salty fatty cheese, and herbs.

The CC is a big fan of the chef April Bloomfield. She's best known for her "nose-to-tail" eating philosophy which is ironic because she made her name cooking vegetables. Her vegetable dishes are beyond superb.

What's presented below is her version of the classic salad above. Note the care with which she reworks the classic combination and adapts it to an entirely different medium. You still have the same four ingredients — radishes, herbs, salt and fat.

Her description of how to make the salad is a little bit romantic but there's logic there. You can't make this without engaging your hands. You need to knead it to make it work.

This is not a salad you can make ahead of time. You have to serve it at once because you are smashing the basil with the salt and the aromatic component will be lost otherwise. You can prep most of it ahead of time though just there's a last minute component which is quite easy.

Ingredients

15 radishes (cut irregularly into large pieces)

1 cup basil leaves
Maldon sea salt

parmigiano-reggiano (cut into irregular chunks - some large, some thin)

3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil (your best!)
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 cups arugula

Recipe

In a large bowl, combine the radishes with the basil and 3 healthy pinches of salt. Using your hands, grab handfuls of the mixture and sharply press the basil and salt against the radishes for about 30 seconds to release the basil's aromatic oils.

Add the parmesan and mix again with your hands until some of the cheese is creamy, some is in little chunks and some is still in larger dime-sized chunks.

Combine the lemon and olive oil into a vinaigrette. Toss with the arugula, and the mixture above and serve at once.

Basil Baseline

So the CC bought some basil at a grocery store, and it had roots and was clearly vibrant so he planted it and verily, after a few hiccups it took root and has been flourishing ever since.

A tad surprising given all the brouhaha about "commercial agriculture" (as opposed to what, jackasses? "loss-ridden agriculture"?!?)

Results, fellow gastronauts, results!

Even More Herb Lore

As pointed out here, water them when they are droopy.

If you water them in the morning, you can see the results of the non-droopiness in about 6-8 hours.

The real reason to water them in the morning is that all the spillage you make over the leaves (which you will) will evaporate and not cause fungal damage.

More Herb Lore

Mediterranean herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, lavender, sage) really like slightly alkaline soil.

You can dry some egg shells, whiz them to a powder (= calcium carbonate) in your coffee grinder, and sprinkle the soil. They really love it.

Practical Herb Lore

Practical stuff for people who are growing the herbs in a window garden.

Don't water them too much. Wait till they look droopy, and give them a little water. They will recover rapdily. This pretty much eliminates the risk they will get attacked by fungus and pests. And only give them very little water (the CC cannot emphasize this point enough!) This means more "monitoring" but c'est la vie.

Give them a lot of sunlight. (The CC realizes this is not under your control. Do your best.)

Give up your fantasies of growing bushels of basil, etc. You are basically gonna grow stuff to add as accents to recipes and are still going to be dependent on the market when you need large quantities. They grow extraordinarily slowly indoors. (If you have large pots and a verandah, this doesn't apply to you.)

Bon appetit!

Some more herb lessons

Well, the afore-mentioned oregano plant has died. The CC is quite sad but c'est la vie.

The CC has decided to persevere and has purchased a second oregano plant along with basil and cilantro plants.

Onwards and upwards.

The rest seem to be flourishing so far. It's been a cold wet spring with not enough sunshine. That might've been the problem.

Herb Lessons

Ever since the CC started growing a window-sill herb garden, he's been buffeted with advice.

Everyone knows that house plants die from overwatering. A little judicious neglect is better than "loving" them too much. (a moral that owners of very fat pets should learn!)

What they don't tell you that oregano needs a lot more water than what is claimed. The CC has managed to make it wilt twice (it has recovered and flourished both times so far.)

Experience v. Theory. It's not even a fair battle.

CC, CC, Quite Contrary

How does your garden grow?


L to R: mint, parsley, thyme, oregano, chives, sage, tarragon, rosemary

Herbaceously Yours : The Solution

Herbaceously Yours

Copyright © 2003, James T. Ehler (published with permission.)

Across

2. Aromatic daisy-like flower used to make hot beverages and shampoos.
5. Agrimony genus plant used in the French liqueur Arquebuse.
7. Liquorice-flavored seeds or oil used in cookies and cakes.
8. Salvia species.
10. Small Mediterranean evergreen tree with small blackish berries and glossy aromatic leaves.
11. Aromatic bitter herb used in candy and cough lozenges.
15. Licorice.
17. Dwarf Mediterranean annual long cultivated for its aromatic seeds.
18. A plant of the genus Actaea having conspicuous, acrid, poisonous berries.
19. Aromatic fresh or dried gray-green leaves used widely as seasoning for meats, fowl and game.
20. Eurasian perennial herb with white flowers that emit flammable vapor in hot weather.
21. Poisonous fetid Old World herb having sticky hairy leaves and yellow-brown flowers
22. Yarrow, field hop, old man's pepper, soldier's woundwort, thousand-seal.

Down

1. Narrow-leaved green herbage used by grazing animals.
2. Good in sauerkraut, bread and soft cheese spreads.
3. Spanish missionaries marked the Mission Trail in California with these pungent seeds.
4. 250,000 'threads' to the pound.
6. Reddish fleshy growth that covers another round spice.
9. Deadly poison used in arrows.
10. Lemon, Bee or Gilead?
12. Named after its edicinal use for disorders of the eye.
13. Hallucinogenic in excess; prison inmates' special?
14. Candy and 'dough' manufacturing both alike?
16. Pot marjoram.