Radish Salad with Herbs on Smoked Salmon Toast

Caroline Heredia Abernethy and Luis Montenegro Lafont’s Radish Toast

NOTES

This salad can be served various ways. We served it on top of toast with some smoked salmon, but you could pair it with prosciutto, a hard, salty cheese or even salmon. It lightens up any dish and is it’s perfect for the end of summer. Radishes pair well with herbs like parsley, dill, basil, tarragon, chervil, mint or cilantro. Feel free to try different combinations, but make sure that basil is the main event.

INSTRUCTIONS

Rub each toasted slice of baguette with a whole clove of garlic to impart that spicy flavor to the bread without having to add chunks of garlic to the dish.

Combine vinegar, honey and mustard in a small bowl. Whisk vigorously to combine and add the garlic flowers, picking off just the blossoms.

Finely chop herbs by hand, removing and discarding all tough stems first.

In a medium bowl, toss together the sliced radishes, basil, dill, mint, thyme, oregano, marjoram and Parmesan cheese.

Add dressing one spoonful at a time and toss to combine.

Top each piece of toast with a slice of smoked salmon and pile salad on top. Serve immediately.

RECIPE

DIFFICULTY

EASY

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SERVES

4

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PREP TIME

10 MINS

Dressing

  • tbs 
    red wine vinegar
  • tbs 
    honey
  •  
    garlic blossom (sub 1 shallot finely chopped)
  • tsp  
    Dijon mustard
  • 1/4  
    cup 
    extra virgin olive oil

Salad

  • cups 
    small radishes, scrubbed clean, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 
    cup 
    Genovese basil
  • 1/4  
    cup 
    fresh dill fronds
  • tbs  
    fresh mint leaves
  • tbs 
    thyme leaves
  • tbs 
    spicy oregano leaves
  • tbs 
    fresh marjoram leaves
  • 1/4 
    cup 
    freshly grated Paremsean
  •  
     
    sea salt and pepper to taste
  •  
    baguette, thinly sliced
  • cloves 
    fresh garlic
  • 1/4 
    lb 
    smoked salmon

INSTRUCTIONS

Rub each toasted slice of baguette with a whole clove of garlic to impart that spicy flavor to the bread without having to add chunks of garlic to the dish.

Combine vinegar, honey and mustard in a small bowl. Whisk vigorously to combine and add the garlic flowers, picking off just the blossoms.

Finely chop herbs by hand, removing and discarding all tough stems first.

In a medium bowl, toss together the sliced radishes, basil, dill, mint, thyme, oregano, marjoram and Parmesan cheese.

Add dressing one spoonful at a time and toss to combine.

Top each piece of toast with a slice of smoked salmon and pile salad on top. Serve immediately.

For those of you have eaten your way through Spain, you will recall the hulking legs of jamon, cheese, anchovies on crusty bread and gooey Tortilla Espanola. This is all heavenly of course, but if there is one serious guest absent from the party, it would for sure be herbs. You will be hard-pressed to find anything close to the array of fresh herbs we have here in the states, not even the occasional garnish.  I suppose it is a testament to the Spanish cuisine that they are eating pretty well without them, but for a salad-head like me, I felt a bit untethered after two weeks of tapas alone on my recent trip to Madrid.

Then, I met Caroline Heredia Abernethy and Luis Montenegro Lafont, a couple who is trying to make an impact on the Spanish plate one leaf at a time. Together they run a production studio and create short films in an industrial part of Madrid, but they also have a small farm in Soto del Grillo, an area devoted to organic farming about 20 minutes from downtown. Here, Caroline grows everything from Holy Basil to Orange Thyme, and she is willing to drive as far as Barcelona to deliver her herbs to her clients, who are mostly up and coming young chefs. I joined Caroline and Luis at their home  for an herbaceous salad and cocktails sourced from their balcony. The drink was a work of art unto itself, lavender blossom and mint ice cubes floating in a bourbon muddled with homemade mint syrup. Let it be noted — there is no better way to ease into a SFP session than to offer up a salad cocktail. I will never say no to that.

Carolina and Luis in Their Own Words

Julia Sherman: What is blueyellow, and how did you arrive at that name?

Caroline Heredia Abernethy: blueyellow is a small batch seasonal product line made from the herbs we grow right here in Madrid. It’s the result of an exquisite selection of herbs whose seeds that we sourced from different parts of the world.

It’s meaning can be as simple as, “water (blue) and sun (yellow) — all a plant needs.” The name blueyellow is also a reference to the colors just before they combine they make green. Its about that moment before, that fraction of space/time where we can re-think green.

JS: Tell me how you first became interested in organic gardening and herbs?

CHA: This was definitely the influence of my grandparents. I grew up between Caracas and San Francisco, although very divergent cultures, both places had incredible produce. My American grandparents had a small backyard where they grew vegetables and herbs. Noonny, my grandmother would make these delicious meals, all from scratch, using whatever they had in the garden, herbs included. Herbs were that fancy touch in the kitchen. It’s funny, I’m just remembering that my grandfather didn’t like when I harvested the vegetables. I guess they were too precious?! I was only allowed to go into the herb boxes, and I loved it.

JS: I was really surprised to find that Spanish food was so absent of herbs. Do you feel like people there are just learning that virtues of herbs and greens?

CHA: Spanish cuisine in general is very basic, based on a very good quality produce, they don’t play a lot around that. They haven’t felt that curiosity.

There is a lack of attention paid to the details when it comes to herbs – their textures, their colors and most importantl, their complex flavors. We are located in the Mediterranean Sea and have a unique microclimate. In reality, lots of the herbs we know well, and those we don’t know yet, are native to this part of the world.

JS: Are you interested in supporting a new movement in Spanish cuisine, or do you think there is room to update the classic food with the spectrum of flavor that can come from your garden?

CHA: We think there is room for more than one perspective. In the end, that’s what all this is about. Getting people to try and use different ingredients is good for our culture and our environment. People are increasingly curious to try new foods and flavors, but they also want to know where they come from. We have designed several public and private tasting experiences with our blueyellow herbs, and it is amazing to watch people’s reactions as they smell/taste something that either cultivates a strong association for them, or opens their minds to something completely new. It’s been very positive. The key is to be willing to play, to experiment, to enjoy and dislike, to try new stuff, eat plants and most importantly, to cook! We just want to arouse creativity.

JS: Is the idea of urban farming still new to Madrid?

CHA: Yes, this is very new. However, a long time ago there were some really great urban farming projects in retirement communities, but unfortunately they no longer exist. Urban farming in Madrid today is focused exclusively as community gardens, which are very useful to the community, but is not necessarily addressing food production on a larger scale. In fact achieving these community gardens has been a hell of a fight with city authorities. As incredible as it sounds, Spain has a very strong rural farming culture, so the idea of urban farming is challenging to us.

JS: You also work making short films and documentaries. What are you working on now?

CHA:  We recently finished Voice Notes, our latest short film. It’s not about food, but it’s about the culture around cycling in London. The film is based on the work of German photographer Horst A. Friedrichs and directed by my partner Luis. I work supporting the production process for almost all the projects at our studio, Beta Studio.

JS: Is a film about urban farming in the works?

CHA: Of course we want to do films that have to do with gardening!!! That is the best of the two worlds!  We just started working in a short documentary series about local producers crossing views between design and farming. We are very looking forward to it!!