Spring Radish and Snap Pea Greek Salad

Spring is here and it’s time to enjoy this seasonal Greek salad full of juicy, sweet snap peas and spicy, crisp radishes! I just couldn’t resist making a snap pea salad and then it seemed perfect to balance them with radishes and tie it all together with great Greek flavors. Break out of your Greek salad rut, and try something a little different!

I love a classic Chopped Greek Salad full of tomatoes and cucumbers. It’s perfect for summertime!

But this time of year?

The tomatoes are pallid shadows of themselves and, while I may chop one up occasionally as I wait for summer tomatoes, they don’t thrill me.

Sugar snap peas and radishes, though, are just coming into their season. We have at least a few weeks left before the first radishes show and then a bit longer for the snap peas. If you have never had in season, local radish and snap peas, I highly recommend you seek them out. They are a revelation. I don’t even get to eat the first couple boxes of snap peas, since my daughter has a tendency to abscond with them. (How can I be upset? 🙂 )

And this year I’ll be ready with a Greek radish and snap peas salad, perfect for celebrating seasonal produce. A little chopping of the snap peas and a little slicing of the radishes with my mandoline (I love this mandoline!) and I’ll be all set.

I’ll also be ready for Easter this year! I decided that a Greek-themed Easter feast was the way to go (Easter menu coming soon!) and I wanted a properly spring focused side dish. Since I seriously love all sorts of salads, a spring Greek salad was my thought for a side. And, while I totally could have gone for an asparagus Greek salad, snap peas are so tasty and a little less obvious choice for a spring recipe that I found myself reaching for a package of them. Whereupon I found myself wandering the produce section trying to decide what else belonged in the salad.

Do you do that? Go to the store with a rough plan for dinner and then wander about filling in the details?

I try not to, since it takes forever and I want to get back home! But this time it worked. I wandered past the radishes and wandered past the mint and said, ‘YES this is what I need!’ All three will be beautiful and tasty at the same time. Add in some spring onions, which will also be ready and in season, and we have a salad.

While I was thinking about Easter when I was developing this salad, this is a salad you can have any night of the week! It’s simple, takes minutes to put together and is packed full of flavor!

– Happy Salad Making, Annemarie

BTW – Anyone interested in seeing pictures of my pets? I have three cats, a dog, and a turtle. 🙂 It’s a full house here. This is Midnight in a box. He’s my youngest cat and thinks he’s big cat on campus, but mostly he’s just a big fluff. And my girl cat, Starbuck, makes sure he doesn’t too big a head. She is in charge and doesn’t put up with any nonsense.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Spring Radish and Snap Pea Greek Salad

Celebrate spring with sweet snap peas and spicy radishes all tossed with feta, kalamata olives, and scallions in this Greek snap pea salad.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time2 minutes mins

Total Time12 minutes mins

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Greek

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 250kcal

Author: Just a Little Bit of Bacon

Ingredients

• 10 oz snap peas, trimmed
• 4 medium radishes
• 2 medium green onions
• 4 oz feta cheese
• 1/2 cup halved kalamata olives
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint

Sherry Vinaigrette

• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 1 small clove garlic, minced then mashed with the flat of the knife
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• dash dried oregano

Instructions

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the snap peas and cook them for 2 minutes, until crisp tender. Drain the snap peas and fill the pot with cold water. Add the peas back to the pot and let them cool. You may need to drain and refill the pot with cold water again if it gets warm. Once the peas are cool, drain and blot them with kitchen towel. Then slice each snap pea in half with an angled cut through the middle. (I like about 45 degrees)
  
• With a mandoline or a sharp knife, thinly slice the radishes. Then slice the green onions all the way up into the dark green. Add the snap peas, radishes, green onions, kalamata olives, and most of the feta and mint to a serving bowl.
  
• For the dressing: Mix together the sherry vinegar and the garlic. Let it sit for a few minutes to mellow the garlic. Then add the olive oil and salt and whisk until combined.
  
• Pour the dressing over the the salad and toss until the vegetables are evenly coated. Top the salad with the reserved feta and mint. Serve.
  

Notes

• I have a GSD mandoline, which is very easy to use. For the radishes I snapped in the 2 mm blade and cut them all in just a few moments. Once I was done, I simply washed it off and put it back away.
• I liked the looks of the snap peas cut on a bias through the middle. The angle of the cut give the salad some more visual appeal.
• For the garlic, once you've minced it, press it with the flat of your blade until you have a garlic paste. If it's being stubborn, sprinkle some kosher salt on the garlic to encourage it as you work.
• While I used standard round, red radishes, if you can find specialty radishes in other colors and shapes, it would be fun to use them.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save