Radis au beurre et au sel

      You can't just dip vegetables in butter and salt and call it good.  Except, you totally can!! And guess what? They are so pretty too! I particularly like the way the pink of the radish and the beet butter play on the blue and white plate. I have long held the idea that eating is almost as much about visual appeal as it is about taste. I say almost because I have enjoyed plenty of delicious dishes plopped on a plate. But even the most beautiful dish, and cupcakes come to mind (i'm looking at 95% of you, American cupcakeries), if not particularly well executed, are a waste.

     But these?  These are little works of art. A treat that is more than the sum of its part. And yet part of that goodness is it's sheer simplicity. I saw some that we dipped in a smooth tempered butter, and some that were slit in the middle with the butter in the center. But no matter the form, the same three things appeared. Fresh crisp radish, good quality butter, and crunchy flaky sea salt.

       And this is fitting, I've heard the three secrets to good French cooking are butter, butter, and butter. And there is plenty of that here.