It’s nearly May, which means that many year-round farmers markets are preparing to move outdoors while many others are gearing up for their opening weekend. April 27 was the finale of Farm Fresh RI’s indoor Providence winter farmers market. Farm Fresh boasts that their facility hosts the largest indoor farmers market in New England with the large building packed full of farm stands and food makers selling their wares. Residents around the Providence area and northern RI will have to wait until June to start seeing Farm Fresh’s six outdoor farmers markets become operational for the season, but for those eager for fresh produce and willing to travel, Farm Fresh has a statewide website page dedicated to tracking farmers markets across the state, with many opening the first week in May.
At the market, food from dumplings to burgers to jerky to baked goods were being sold for to-go lunches or easy dinner planning (a build-your-own charcuterie board would have been easy to do). Surrounding the pre-made goodies were award-winning cheeses, whole lambs – from organs to shanks and sausages – and cuts of beef, and the last bins of root vegetables, still fresh from overwintering storage, but soon transitioning to make room for greenhouse-grown or from-the-dirt-harvested baby greens.
Wishing Stone Farm from Little Compton displayed a unique find for root vegetables: radishes. Not the small Cherry Belle radishes that many are familiar with, however, with their small bulbs and bright red skin, the typical kitchen radish image. These radishes are super quick to grow (maturing in just twenty-five days) and thus are virtually able to be harvested year-round in mild climates. Wishing Stone Farm presented alternative varieties of radishes: green and purple daikons (both are varieties of the large white daikon) and large black Spanish radishes.
“The green daikons,” Silas Peckham-Paul, one of the farm managers, explains, “are sweeter. Not as sweet as a watermelon radish” – which he was also selling – “but really good. They have a bit of tang to them, too.” The black Spanish radishes are sharply spicy with crispy, stark white flesh.
The farm is family-owned. Peckham-Paul’s parents started Wishing Stone forty-one years ago in 1983, and he and his family continue to work the forty acres of land using sustainable agricultural practices to provide food for the local community. The farm sells wholesale to restaurants and universities, attends the Farm Fresh and Hope Street farmers markets in Providence, and operates their own farm stand in Little Compton. As the weather continues to warm and the produce continues to grow inside and out of their greenhouses, Peckham-Paul promises that “everything should be coming soon” for farm fresh vegetables.
During the summer, “we focus hard on tomatoes,” he says, with broccoli and Brussels sprouts the gems of autumn, and root vegetables as well as some greenhouse greens in the winter. “No one wants to just eat a potato,” he jokes. The commitment to variety of hardy overwintered and root vegetables keeps a diverse plate and a healthy palate.
There are two common harvesting periods for different types of radishes: spring and winter. The daikon radishes and the black Spanish radish are both winter varieties, growing best in the cool weather and keeping well in storage. “They last forever,” Peckham-Paul says. These radishes were harvested before the first major frost.
In the kitchen, radishes are commonly used as a garnish or a “side” ingredient, something to incorporate in salads, tarts, or anything that could use a pop of spice and an added crunch. But for Peckham-Paul, there are no end of uses for the different varieties of radishes. “I love pickling the radishes,” he insists. “We do bread and butter daikons,” – the green daikon is especially good for pickles – and “kimchi is another thing you can do that’s big for daikons.” For the Spanish black radish, roasting is a good idea, as well as making it into a soup or putting it on crostini. Peckham-Paul also lists off sushi and radish noodles as cooking options for radishes.
Keeping with the pickling and Asian cuisine suggestions, I opted to make the Vietnamese sandwich bánh mì. Bánh mì (pronounced similar to “bun me”) is a staple of Vietnamese cuisine. It is similar in make up to the American sub sandwich with a long bread roll stacked with protein, vegetables, and smothered in sauce. The typical ingredients for this sandwich are bánh mì bread (close to a French baguette), sliced cucumber, pickled vegetables, cilantro, and some type of protein. Pork, beef, chicken, tofu, and mushrooms are all acceptable options put between the bread, and pickled daikons are a must. I drew on inspiration from Greens & Chocolate, Vanilla And Bean, and Delightful Plate to create a pulled pork bánh mì recipe with plenty of pickled vegetables, bright and tangy herbs, and a fiery bang bang sauce.
Pulled Pork Bánh Mì Recipe:
For the pork:
3 ½ lb. center cut boneless pork roast
½ c Beef broth
¼ c soy sauce
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ inches ginger, grated
For the pickled veggies:
3 carrots
1 red onion
3 daikon radishes
2 jalapeños
3 c hot water
3 c rice vinegar
12 Tbsp granulated sugar
Big pinch of salt
Bringing it all together:
12 demi baguettes for single servings or three large baguettes, cut into fourths
Cilantro
Cucumber (sliced)
Mayonnaise
Sriracha
Honey
Squirt of lime juice
Instructions:
- Place the pork in a slow cooker. Combine broth, soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and ginger in a bowl, and pour over the beef. Let it cook in the marinade for four hours on high or eight hours on low. After it is done cooking, shred the pork with a fork.
- In the meantime, make the pickled vegetables. Thinly cut the red onion into half-moons, slice thin circles of jalapeño, and julienne the carrots and daikon radishes (alternatively, slice them into thin matchsticks).
- In a glass jar or bowl, combine the hot water, rice vinegar, sugar, and a pinch of salt. Make sure the sugar is fully dissolved (two minutes), then add in the vegetables, making sure they are all fully submerged. Cover, and refrigerate for at least one hour.
- To make the sauce, take a regular kitchen spoon (the kind you eat with) and use it to measure out six heaping spoonsful of mayonnaise, four heaping spoonsful sriracha, and two spoonsful honey. Stir together and taste, adjust the sauce as needed for preference – more sriracha will make it spicier, more honey will cut through the acidity, and the mayonnaise will cut the heat.
- As everything is ready to come together, slice the cucumber into thin rounds and cut the demi baguettes in half to split them open. Lightly toast the bread.
- Finally, assemble the sandwiches. On one side of the baguette, spread the sauce onto the bread. Top with shredded pork, pickled veggies, cucumber, and sprigs of cilantro (or chopped cilantro).
This dish will make about twelve servings. The total amount for the ingredients (portioned) is about $47; the cost of each serving is about $3.92.