The recipe called Honey-Mustard-Braised Radishes and Mustard Greens arrived in my inbox from Food and Wine Magazine today. I was drawn to the recipe because it sounded flavorful and I could make it work with what I had at home. I didn’t change too many things. I did add the pickled mustard seeds….Actually I added the mustard seeds because Food and Wine Magazine has the recipe on-line without the mustard seeds in the recipe. Instead of mustard greens I used baby bok choys. I also added the crispy radishes. I must note that I really didn’t think that this sauce would work out but it did….It looked like it was breaking and would never reduce or get together BUT IT DID!…………it just takes MUCH longer than written but it’s worth waiting for as it taste marvelous. My idea of a serving size might differ from your idea of a serving size. This makes between 4-6 side servings.

Ingredients for around 4 side servings

2 Tablespoons mustard seeds

2 Tablespoons pickled pepper brine (preferably home made) or substitute apple cider vinegar

1 stick unsalted butter

4 oz prepared hot horseradish

3 garlic cloves – ground to paste

2 shallots – fine chopped

1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons white vinegar

2 Tablespoons honey

1 1/2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

2 cups water

12 radishes – cut in quarters

2 radishes – sliced very thin

1 lb baby bok choy – cut in half long ways

fresh crushed sea salt – to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons chives – chopped

neutral oil to fry the radishes with

Directions

Directions make pickled mustard seeds at least 6 hours before you make this recipe. Toast the mustard seeds on low heat for around 5 minutes. Remove seeds from pan and put in a small container or dish. Pour the brine or apple cider vinegar over the mustard seeds. Put it in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Put around an inch of oil in a sauce pot on slightly over medium heat. When the oil is hot starts frying up the radish slices until they are crisp but not burnt. They need to drain and cool on either a cooling rack or a baking sheet lined with paper towels.

In a sauce pot add the butter, horseradish, garlic, shallots, vinegar, honey, mustard, and 2 cups of water. Bring this to a simmer on medium high heat stirring occasionally. You need this to reduce to at least half. After it’s reduced to half add the radishes and cook them till fork tender (timing will differ) Mine took around 5 minutes but depending on size and freshness they might take less time. Remove the radishes when done and then add the bok choy root side down in pot. The root needs to cook around two minutes. After two minutes stir the bok choy around for a few seconds to wilt the leaves. Remove bok choy on to a platter for serving. Season with salt and pepper to taste. At this point I wanted to reduce my sauce even more so I let mine reduce more and then I put the plate together.

Bok Choy is on the platter. Add the braised radishes. Add more sauce. Finish with crisp radish slices and chives,

A special THANKS to Star Chef Grant Achatz for sharing his FORKING Amazing recipe with Food & Wine Magazine so I could come up with what I made here.

Enjoy!

This is one of those recipes where I got the idea from a chef on the internet but his recipe didn’t work out at all so I had to figure out on how to make it because it did sound interesting to me. I figure that much of the recipe was missing because I had to figure out a lot and I had to change almost everything including the meringues. But in the end meringues are GENIUS and do taste marvelously GREAT on bok choy with black bean sauce. I think the meringues are actually better if you break them up over the bok choy and sauce……Ingredients for around 4 servings. (you might end up with more meringues than you need but they stay fresh for a long time.)

Ingredients for around 4 servings

2 egg whites

2 Tablespoons sugar

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1/3 teaspoon granulated ginger

1 1/2 lbs bok choy (I got three in my bag) – cut in half long ways

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon peanut oil

1 garlic clove – ground to paste

1/2 teaspoon granulated ginger (fresh is better here butI didn’t have any)

2 Tablespoons black bean sauce

1 Tablespoon sherry

1/4 cup scallions (to finish)

Optional mushrooms (around 5 ounces go well with bok choy and these flavors)

Directions

Preheat oven to 185 degrees F.

Use silicon lined baking sheets.

Whip egg whites to firm peaks. Whip in sugar. Slowly stir in soy sauce and ginger. Give it a little whip if it needs it. Put mixture in a pastry bag and squeeze out little mounds until you are out of mixture. (they spread slightly so leave a little room). They stay in oven till crisp. Timing will differ because size will differ. This will take maybe one hour – 1 1/2 hours.

Fill a sauce pot with water around three quarters high and add a teaspoon of sesame oil. Bring this to a medium boil. Carefully place the bok choy in bulb sides down into the water and let it cook around 2 minutes. Shut off heat and dip the leaves in so they cook slightly. Then remove the bok choy from the water and drain. Put the bok choy in a serving dish. Put to the side. Dump the water out of the pot.

(cook mushrooms if you are adding optional mushrooms)

The pot is still hot so just use it to whip up the sauce. Add a teaspoon of peanut oil. Then add the ginger, garlic, black bean sauce, and sherry. Pour it over the bok choy. Add Meringues and scallions.

Enjoy!