By: Lucy Boswell
April 24, 2021
Hoggard is lucky enough to have beautiful functioning gardens right by the tennis courts! When you walk out to these gardens, you see an abundance of greens beyond a blooming archway. Lettuces of all varieties grow there, and, surprisingly, radishes can be found and harvested. You can find them by looking just above the soil, where their ruby-red heads and tufts of greens will peep out at you. Pull them up gently, and you’ll soon have a full harvest. Spring radishes are quick and easy to grow, perfect for a classroom garden.
Chef Steven Satterfield, author of Root to Leaf, says that radishes add coolness, color, crunch, a burst of juiciness, and subtle heat or spice to just about anything. You can eat them in every form: raw, cooked, pickled, it doesn’t matter. “In addition to their bracing bite and refreshing crispness, radishes offer great health benefits.” Unlike most produce, Satterfield says, radishes play better on a team rather than standing alone. The recipes shared later do just that.
There are so many benefits to eating from a local garden, especially from one right in your backyard. Working in the garden provides many health benefits, including vitamin D exposure, mood-boosting effects, a lower risk of dementia, aerobic exercise, and it even combats loneliness. Growing your own vegetables helps in saving money on groceries, where you’re likely to be charged extra for organic produce. Even more enticing, freshly harvested, home-grown vegetables taste better. There is nothing like biting into a ripe tomato or strawberry when it still tastes of summer and sunshine, and there is no comparison between home-grown herbs and store-bought. Food waste decreases when you are harvesting only what you need, and food security is improved.
Best of all, perhaps, are the environmental perks of harvesting your own food. For one, carbon emissions are reduced. Produce at the store has to travel hundreds of miles, and their transportation creates a large carbon footprint in addition to taking away from the freshness and flavor. By walking from your backyard to your kitchen, you aren’t producing any carbon emissions! There are no carcinogenic chemical pesticides and fertilizers when you’re growing your own food, which reduces pollution in our waterways, and there is a lower risk of food poisoning.
Hoggard’s gardens are grown by the kids and teachers in Horticulture. My chemistry classmate is one of these kids. They took Horticulture I already, and are currently taking Horticulture II. They say that “Horticulture is the perfect class for anyone who has interest in topics such as gardening, landscape, plant care, and nature. Those who take Horticulture are actively engaged on a daily basis, and are provided with an abundance of knowledge regarding the subjects covered within the class. Whether it’s time spent in the classroom or outside in the gardens, there is always something to be taken away from the lesson. What I loved most about Horticulture was how involved we were with day to day activities. From tending to our vegetable gardens to learning new plants, we had a very active and informational class period. By the end of the semester students have an in-depth understanding on matters such as how to care for and identify a variety of plants, manage a garden, and how to properly fertilize an area of land. I highly recommend the class if you are interested in any of the mentioned topics, a career in horticulture, or even just a laid back elective class. The class provides a great learning environment and plenty of engaging activity.”
I was lucky to be able to go to the Horticulture gardens with all my chemistry classmates, and we harvested a bunch of radishes. I went straight home and started cooking, and no part of the radishes went to waste! My chemistry teacher tried both of the recipes, and commented that she loved the flavor of the cheese in the quiche. Here are the two recipes that I made:
Ina Garten’s Radish Tzatziki Recipe
This tzatziki is a refreshing, perfect addition to almost anything: tacos, avocado toast, pitas, you name it!
Ingredients
6 medium radishes, scrubbed and trimmed
2 garlic cloves, grated on a Microplane zester
1 1/4 cups plain whole milk Greek yogurt (10 ounces)
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (2 scallions)
2 1/2 tablespoons julienned fresh mint leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Grate the radishes on a box grater. Place the radishes in a paper towel and squeeze out the liquid. In a medium bowl, combine the radishes, garlic, yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, scallions, mint, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or for up to 12 hours.
Steven Satterfield’s Radish Greens and Spring Garlic Quiche
This quiche is so delicious. Light, fluffy, cheesy, perfect. Courtesy of the Root to Leaf cookbook by Chef Steven Satterfield. “A lot of folks don’t even realize that radish tops are edible. When raw, they sometimes have a prickly fuzz, and can be overly bitter or metallic on the palate. Cooked with creamy eggs and sharp spring garlic, however, they can be transcendent. With the help of a flaky, savory crust and the flexibility to be served warm, chilled, or at room temperature, this quiche is the perfect way to use what would normally be relegated to bunny food or the compost bin. If you don’t feel like making the crust from scratch, there are good quality premade crusts available; just read the ingredients before you buy.”
Ingredients
1 pie dough (I used Pillsbury pie crust)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 shallot or ½ yellow onion, chopped
1 stalk spring garlic, chopped
1 bunch radish greens, rinsed well and chopped
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup heavy cream or buttermilk
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 ounces goat cheese
Directions
Prepare and blind-bake the pie crust: line your pie dish with thawed pie crust, cover with aluminum foil, and pop in a 450º oven for 7-8 minutes.
In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the shallot and garlic and cook until translucent, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add the greens and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the milk, cream, and salt and whisk well.
Spread the radish greens mixture evenly over the bottom of the crust. Crumble the goat cheese over the greens. Carefully pour the egg mixture over the filling.
Bake the quiche at 450ºuntil the edges are set but the quiche still jiggles a little in the center, 45-55 minutes. (If the edges of the crust start to brown, cover with a ring of aluminum foil.) Cool the quiche at least 30 minutes before serving warm, room temperature, or cool, for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!
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