Radishes, Butter & Sea Salt

A few years back a French friend hosted a dinner party in our honor when we were in Paris. We had problems finding a parking spot, how not surprising in Paris, and arrived a tad late. All of the other guests had arrived, and were sitting around an oversized coffee table that she had in her very chic living room. Please know I don’t throw the word chic around often, but this situation called for it, as it was a very Parisian, very chic space. Our friend is a master of mixing things-people, objects, food. An artist of the high/low. Everyone was drinking champagne out of flat bottomed glasses that were quite simple, but yet oh so stylish. At the center of the table was a platter. On it were a large grouping of radishes, a pot of butter, and a dish of sea salt. It was the pre-dinner snack, and I was intrigued. I certainly had used salt when eating radishes, but butter? Folks were casually dipping the radishes in the butter and eating them in between sips of bubbly. Others would dip in butter and then sprinkle a few flecks of sea salt over it, salting the butter in the process. I went for it. It was sublime. The bitterness of the radish mixed with the sweetness of the butter, with the sting of the salt. It has now become a go-to snack to serve when I find a beautiful bunch of radishes and we are having guests over. Give it a try. I hope you like it.