Positively Radishing: Radish Toasts with Chive Butter

One of my favourite parts of June is the return of the local farmers market.

Compared to the bigger markets like the St Lawrence or the Brickworks, the little market at Withrow Park with its dozen stands may not look like much, but I think it's perfect. It's got everything I need... fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, eggs, cheese, bread, and pastries, all locally grown and produced.

This year's cool rainy spring meant that it was pretty slim pickings at the inaugural market last weekend, but I still managed to snag myself a crusty sourdough baguette and bunch of fat crunchy radishes.

Rounded out with a handful of chives from the garden and a block of creamy butter, I had exactly what I needed to make myself a platter of radish toast, the most quintessential of almost-summertime snacks, and a perfect way to celebrate the market's return.

How to Make Radish Toast

This classic French recipe is so incredibly easy to make - slices of fresh baguette topped with a generous slathering of chive butter, a layer of thinly sliced radishes, and a sprinkling of crunchy salt.

All that matters is that you must make sure that each of those elements is the absolute best you can possibly get. The radishes must be large and plump and crunchy. The baguette must be crusty on the outside and delicately airy on the inside. The chives should be fresh and very finely chopped. The salt should be flaky and crunchy.

And, most important of all, the butter must be creamy and rich and utterly exceptional.

Choosing the Right Butter for Radish Toast

You could use ordinary butter, but the secret to making the best radish toast in the world is to use really, really good butter. That's why I insist on making my radish toasts with Stirling Creamery's butter, because it's the best you can get without hopping the next plane to France.

In fact, I don't need to hop on a plane at all, because it's made right here in Ontario using fresh local cream without any additives or preservatives.

I generally prefer to keep unsalted butter on hand because it's best for baking, but when it comes to radish toast, I'm all about the salted whey butter.

It's an artisanal butter is made from whey cream that's created during the production of fine cheeses, which gives it a rich, creamy, and intensely buttery flavour. It's exactly what you want to temper the sharp crunch of the radishes.

Want to make your own radish toast?  Best hurry up, then. It won't be long before last week's radishes, garlic scapes and green onions give way to sweet peas and early strawberries, so I strongly suggest hustling over to your local market to stock up while the getting is good!

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Disclosure: I am part of the PTPA Brand Ambassador Program with Gay Lea, and received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. As always, all opinions on this blog are my own.

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