This recipe was inspired by a salad I ate at FnB restaurant in Scottsdale AZ. The Chef is a James Beard Award Winner so everything she makes is amazing. This salad was simple but delicious. It had very few ingredients so I figured I could do something similar at home. I pretty much made the same exact salad but I added two ingredients the original didn’t have. I added fried radish slices and fried capers for an added interest and texture. This salad is very good and it’s something you might want to try. The dressing is enough to dress four servings. I can’t give you the exact amount of radish you need because radishes differ so much in size. For two people it was about one watermelon radish, 6 regular radishes and about two dates but they were smaller servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

2 watermelon radishes sliced very thin on mandolin (or more depending on size) (reserve about a dozen slices for frying)

12 regular radishes sliced very thin on a mandolin (or more depending on size) (reserve about a dozen slices for frying)

2 teaspoons small capers – reserve one teaspoon for frying

4 (or more) dates pits removed sliced in thin strips

5 teaspoons pumpkin seeds

pinch urfa pepper (you can substitute another pepper like black pepper but urfa is better for this)

6 anchovies

1 Tablespoon anchovy oil

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 small lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 clove garlic – ground to paste or microplane

neutral oil to fry with

Directions

Get a sauce pot on medium-medium high heat with about an inch of oil in it. If you are using a thermometer you don’t need a high heat. You only need about 250 degrees F if your slices are very thin. Carefully add 1/2 of the reserved radish slices and fry them. They get done quickly and use either paper towels on a pan or a cooling rack to drain them. Then do the other reserved half. Be real careful when you do the capers. They have a lot of liquid that you need to squeeze out and they get done even faster and look like little crispy flowers. Set them on paper towels to the side when you are done.

Blend the anchovy’s, anchovy oil, olive oil, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon capers and garlic till it emulsifies and set to the side.

On your serving plate add the radish slices, dates pumpkin seeds and lightly add dressing. Top with some fried radish slices and some fried capers. Finish with a pinch of Urfa pepper.

Everyone will love this.