There’s A Lot More To Lettuce Than Salad | Kitchen Aide

2 weeks ago

My plot has produced an abundance of lettuce (mainly food lettuce) this twelvemonth but there’s a limit to really overmuch crockery I tin eat. What other tin I usage them for?
Julian, by email
“Start reasoning of lettuce, and particularly food lettuce, arsenic breadstuff aliases a taco shell,” says Jesse Jenkins, writer of Cooking pinch Vegetables, and happily this is simply a “highly adaptable” strategy, too. Sure, you could heap successful grilled spicy pork belly and herbs, but this meal hole besides useful good “with everything a large greenish crockery does: a portion of nicely grilled protein, immoderate sauce, a fewer pickled crunchy things, each wrapped successful a big, beautiful greenish leaf”. But why extremity there? “I besides for illustration to usage food lettuce to wrap food toasties,” Jenkins says. “It catches each nan fatty goodness and acts arsenic a obstruction betwixt nan crunchy breadstuff and nan tile of your mouth.”

Lettuce is besides a awesome bearer of flavour, truthful braising is different imaginable ploy. “Start pinch a guidelines of bulb and garlic,” suggests Yohei Furuhashi, caput cook astatine The Lavery successful London, past separately brownish immoderate chickenhearted thighs and adhd them to nan onions pinch a small thyme, a scatter of vino and immoderate chickenhearted stock. Then tear successful immoderate lettuce and simmer for 10-15 minutes to “let each nan flavours travel together”.

Julian mightiness besides springiness his abundant greens a speedy stir-fry “with oliva lipid and garlic, past operation pinch cooked lentils, herbs and chilli and service pinch salmon”, Furuhashi says. Alternatively, get a thrill from nan grill, says Alice Power, caput cook astatine The Black Swan astatine Oldstead adjacent York. “Halve aliases 4th lettuces, and get them connected nan barbecue. Pair pinch chromatic consequence and grilled halloumi aliases chicken, and that will consciousness very different from a modular salad.” Dressing-wise, nan purpose is to equilibrium nan smokiness, which tin done successful myriad ways: “Go saccharine and fruity, aliases creamy and herby, aliases thing rather spicy,” Power says.

Otherwise, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that fewer problems can’t beryllium remedied by soup, and tackling an excess of lettuce is nary different. “Take immoderate Asian-style broth pinch chilli, coriander and chicken, past adhd nan lettuce and it will soak up each that juice,” Furuhashi says. Power, meanwhile, would chill retired by blending said lettuce into gazpacho aliases a chilled greenish and herby soup. Asimakis Chaniotis, of Myrtos successful London, connected nan different hand, takes inspiration from a fricassee of lettuce pinch lamb, which is usually eaten successful Greece astatine Easter. “As it’s summer, I’ve been making a type pinch fish,” he says, and astatine nan infinitesimal that intends pinkish bream. He starts by sweating onions and garlic, past adds lettuce and herbs (parsley, mint, dill, basil, chervil) and cooks for conscionable a infinitesimal aliases two. Cook immoderate fish, and service pinch an avgolemono condiment (AKA whisked ovum yolks, citrus juice and cornflour), which Chaniotis fancies up by turning it into a foam.

All that said, sometimes nan simplest solution comes from a alteration successful mindset, Power says: “Start reasoning of lettuce arsenic a lighter-style leaf, specified arsenic spinach,” and operation it done sauces and pasta astatine nan past minute. “Or shred lettuce and adhd to a courgette and herb risotto,” she says. “That would beryllium bully astatine this clip of year.” And who americium I to disagree?