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Thinly sliced beef with roasted radishes and radish-top pesto

Melanie Johnson Melanie Johnson

Our kitchen garden cook gets creative with radishes for this week's recipe.

The bright colours of rainbow radishes will make any dish feel like spring. This delicious recipe makes good use of the tops.

Thinly sliced beef with roasted radishes and radish-top pesto

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 600g top-rump beef, rolled and tied
  • 2tbspn olive oil
  • 1tbspn wholegrain mustard
  • 600g rainbow radishes with tops
  • 1tbspn olive oil
  • 200ml Greek yoghurt
  • 1tbspn creamed horseradish
  • A squeeze of lemon
  • Edible flowers to serve

For the pesto

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  • The tops from half the radishes
  • 10g basil leaves
  • 75ml olive oil
  • Juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 75g grated Parmesan
  • Seasoning

Method
Preheat your oven to 180˚C/350˚F/gas mark 4. Rub the beef with olive oil and sear it all over in a hot frying pan. Place the meat on a roasting tray, brush over the mustard and season. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes for medium (depending on the thickness of the joint).

Remove the tops from the radishes and set aside. Toss the radishes in olive oil in an ovenproof dish and, after the meat has had 10 minutes to rest, put them in the oven to roast for 20 minutes (don’t be tempted to roast them with the beef or they will become discoloured by the pan juices). Once cooked, season the radishes well and stir through a handful of the tops so that they wilt.

Using the smaller radish leaves without the abrasive side, add all the ingredients for the pesto to a processor and blitz to a paste. Set aside. Stir the creamed horseradish, a small squeeze of lemon juice and seasoning into the Greek yoghurt.

To serve, add a dollop of spiced yoghurt to the centre of four plates and arrange a few slices of thinly cut beef around one side of it. Spoon the cooked radishes onto the yoghurt, drizzle pesto around each plate and, finally, add a sprinkling of edible flowers for an extra touch of spring.

Avocado-hummus toasts with Parma ham and radishes

Put the following ingredients in a food processor: 1 ripe avocado, 400g of tinned chickpeas (drained), 2 cloves of garlic, the juice of 1 lemon, 1tspn of tahini and seasoning. Process to a smooth paste and serve dolloped on toasted ciabatta, with a slice of Parma ham and radish slices.

Radish-and-fennel salad with lemon-yogurt dressing and pan-fried cod (serves 2)

Finely slice some raw fennel and radishes and combine them in a bowl. Pour over 3tbspn of natural yoghurt, 2tbspn of extra-virgin olive oil, the juice and zest from a lemon and seasoning. Mix well and serve with pan-fried cod and a scattering of fennel tops for a light lunch.

Cauliflower soup with radish flowers

To make a simple cauliflower soup, place in a saucepan half a cauliflower, 1 small brown onion, 1 clove of garlic, 1tspn of ground cumin and enough chicken stock to cover. Simmer, blitz in a food processor and add a splash of double cream. Mean-while, roast thin rounds of radish tossed in olive oil in a moderately hot oven for about 5 minutes. Serve the soup with the radish rounds scattered on top.