Watermelon Radish, Orange, and Goat Cheese Salad

Summer is slowly turning into Fall in North Georgia, with the days getting noticeably shorter and the leaves beginning to change colors. How did we get to September already?! With the change in seasons, new vegetables are starting to show up at the grocery stores, and one I’ve been dying to find if watermelon radishes! Have you seen these beauties?

Source

I originally learned about them on Pinterest via Popsugar Food’s post by Alexandra’s Kitchen’s recipe for Watermelon Radish, Orange, & Goat Cheese Salad. Here’s an image from their site:

When I saw this salad last Spring, I knew I wanted to make it! First of all, look at those colors together. Gorgeous, right?

Next, the flavors sounded so interesting together to me. When I started searching for watermelon radishes over the Summer, I couldn’t find them anywhere. Not Whole Foods, not the farmer’s market… turns out they’re a cooler weather root vegetable. This past weekend, I saw a local farmer on Instagram post a picture of a bunch of watermelon radishes he was selling at the Roswell Farmer’s Market on a Saturday morning. I wasn’t able to get there before they closed, so I tried Whole Foods. They had them!

The original recipe shows the radishes thinly sliced with a mandolin, which gives them a beautiful, sort of ribbon-like curl. I didn’t have a mandolin, so I used a vegetable peeler the first time I made the salad after peeling the outside skin off first.

Still pretty, but the next time I made it (which I didn’t take a picture of because it was dark outside), I sliced them straight down the vegetable without peeling it first, horizontal style.

I think this makes a much prettier presentation, but ultimately I think the mandolin is the way to go, as suggested in Alexandra’s Kitchen’s recipe. The night I made it for dinner, we had cedar planked grilled salmon, roasted fingerling potatoes, and the watermelon radish, orange, and goat cheese salad. The salad complemented the main fish entree and potatoes perfectly!

The first time I made the salad, I paired it with a good rosé and a few rosemary crackers ( I love Townhouse Focaccia Rosemary & Olive Oil crackers! )

I followed the recipe pretty close, using fresh watermelon radish, Cara Cara oranges, and goat cheese crumbles. I did a few things different like I bought scallions, but ended up not using them. In the original recipe, they soaked the chopped scallions in white balsamic vinegar. I cut the fruit and vegetables, then simply tossed them in a large bowl to evenly distribute the lovely colors, then used equal parts regular balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil to dress it. I added coarsely chopped walnuts ( I didn’t toast mine), minced chives, coarse sea salt, and goat cheese crumbles on top before serving and roughly tossed the ingredients again. It still turned out wonderful!

I think you’ll really love this Fall salad, whether as an appetizer or as a side dish! The flavors are so delicious together and the bold, gorgeous color combination can’t be beat!

I ordered seeds online via Pinterest from Pinetree Seeds, but then found them at Whole Foods. I’ll probably refrigerate mine and plant them early next Spring. Here’s the link if you’d like to, as well! https://www.superseeds.com/products/watermelon-radish-37-days

‘Til next time, friends!

XO