Brown Butter Roasted Radish Toasts

A gorgeous snack from Maria Zizka's The Hostess Handbook

Do you remember when the humble radish suddenly went from Peter Rabbit food to haute cuisine? The first time I heard about radishes served simply, dipped in butter with some sea salt, I was skeptical. It was sometime in the early aughts (around 2008, I think), and a fellow editor at Saveur, where I was working in those years, was waxing rhapsodically about the delicious simplicity of this traditional French snack. To my mind, radishes were something that you ate because they were easy to grow in the garden, best cut into thin slices and scattered in a salad.

Obviously, I had no idea what awaited me. In the years that followed, Danielle Hume’s butter-dipped radishes became a fad, and roasted radishes became a mainstay on a certain kind of restaurant menu. I fell for them, too—first for the deliciously mild French breakfast variety and then for all those pretty Easter egg orbs. Now I’m gluttonous about radishes, particularly if they’re roasted until tender, dusted simply with a bit of salt.

---

My new book, SNACKING DINNERS, launched in April! Check out my events page for upcoming talks, signings, and pop-ups in the Bay Area, New York, and more!

---

So I was thrilled to see this delicious take on the radish-plus-creamy food approach in Maria Zizka’s book The Hostess Handbook (Artisan Books) earlier this year. The whole book is right up my alley. As a person who loves to have people over, Maria’s recipes, suited to a variety of different kinds of parties, and advice on things like what to do when unexpected people arrive and outsourcing dessert, are exactly the kind of content that gets me excited about planning a party. (Plus, the cover reminds me of the copy of Tiffany’s Table Manners for Teenagers that my best friend had when I was a tween—the book that taught me how to properly use a soup spoon and eat bread elegantly.)

This book has lots of recipes that would make great snacking dinners, but this is one I can see myself making all year—now, when the radishes are at their summer peak, and again in late fall and winter, when roasting them will concentrate the flavors of even the most uninspiring specimens. The recipe is designed as an appetizer for four to six people, but it works well as a snacking dinner for two to three (maybe with some jammy eggs, for extra protein, on the side and a glass of crisp white wine).

---

For a signed copy of The Hostess Handbook, order from Mrs. Dalloway’s in Berkeley. If you’d like, Maria can even personalize it for you—just let the store know in your order notes.

---

Brown Butter Roasted Radish Toasts

“Radish and salted butter are a match made in heaven. The bracing crunch of radish pairs beautifully with the rich creaminess of butter, and a hint of salt heightens all the flavors. The simple and classic French snack of raw radishes served with smooth, room-temp butter is the inspiration for this recipe. But the twist here is that the radishes are drizzled with melted butter and roasted until tender with only the tiniest bit of crunch, sort of like al dente pasta. To make this starter a little more party-friendly, the radishes are served on top of toasts smeared with herbed goat cheese.”

2 bunches radishes (any kind)
4 tablespoons (½ stick/55 g) unsalted butter, melted
Fine sea salt
8 slices country-style bread
1 garlic clove, peeled but whole
2 ounces (55 g) herbed goat cheese
¼ cup (5 g) fresh chervil or flat-leaf parsley, torn or snipped into small sprigs
Lemon wedges, for squeezing
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).

2. Trim the radishes, leaving a little bit of the leafy green top if it looks perky and fresh. Cut each radish lengthwise into quarters and place them all on a sheet pan. Drizzle with the melted butter and sprinkle with salt. Roast, stirring once, until mostly tender with still a little bit of crunch, about 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, toast the bread in a toaster. As each slice finishes toasting, while it’s still warm, rub the garlic clove across both sides. (Alternatively, you can toast the bread under the broiler once the radishes are finished.)

4. Brush the toasts with any browned butter from the sheet pan. Cut the toasts into smaller pieces, spread some herbed goat cheese on each piece, and spoon a few roasted radish wedges on top. Sprinkle with the chervil, squeeze a little lemon juice over the radishes, grind some pepper on top, and serve warm.

Do Ahead Roast the radishes up to 3 days ahead and store, covered, in the fridge. Make sure to keep any browned butter that ends up on the sheet pan and use it to brush on the toasts when you make them!

Recipe excerpted from The Hostess Handbook by Maria Zizka (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2024. Photographs by Erin Scott.”