Ode to a Lettuce

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Posted on April 18, 2013
I think lettuce in general is slightly under-rated... particularly the Buttercrunch variety. Possibly the easiest lettuce to grow - and definitely the most fun to dress; you just need to think of interesting and novel combinations of things to fling on top of it.

Ingredients

  • Butterhead Lettuce
  • Olive Oil
  • Rape Seed Oil
  • Red Wine Vinegar
  • Cider Vinegar
  • Raspberry Vinegar
  • Lemon Juice
  • Lime Juice
  • 0% Greek Yoghurt
  • Homemade Mayo

There must be an unlimited number of possibilities in terms of ‘things to serve with lettuce’; so here are just a couple:

Traditional Salad is perfect for Baked Potato evenings, or to go with a bowl of pasta or a slice of cold roast meat… Serve your Lettuce with Tomatoes, Cucumber, Red Onion and dress it with and English Mustard Dressing (1 tbsp White Wine Vinegar, 3 of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 tsp English Mustard)

Beetroot and Orange Salad is good with white Fish or with some Middle Eastern Mezze and Flatbread… Serve the Lettuce with some chopped Nearly Pickled Beetroot, some chopped Orange segments and some finely chopped Red Onion.  Dress with a squeeze of Orange, Lime and a little drizzle of Rape Seed Oil

Chilli and Pepper is a delicious combination served on Lettuce… Very finely chop some fresh Red Chilli, Red (or Orange) Pepper and Red Onion, and place in a bowl with 1 or 2 tbsp Cider Vinegar or Red Wine Vinegar and a tiny bit of Salt.  Leave to marinade for half an hour or so before dressing the salad with this (kind of) Salsa and maybe some sliced Cucumber?!

Spring Onion, Cucumber, Apple and Leek… very finely chopped and mixed with a dollop of Homemade Mayo or some zero fat Greek Yoghurt is delicious served on Lettuce leaves (use equal proportions of the three ingredients, and leave to marinade for a bit before serving on the lettuce leaves)

Radish and Cucumber Salad is delicious – just finely chop both and serve on Lettuce leaves. A dressing of Lemon Juice and Rape Seed Oil is great with this – or you could make a light Yoghurt dressing by mixing 1 tbsp 0% Greek Yoghurt, juice of half a Lemon, a drizzle of Olive Oil and a little crushed Garlic

Apple and Onion Salad is good with Lettuce; just finely slice some Apple, and some white Onion and pickle them slightly in White Wine or Cider Vinegar… leave for half an hour or so before serving on top of Lettuce with some sliced Cucumber and Pepper.  A crunch of toasted Walnuts is good too. You may want to add a drizzle of Olive Oil once the salad is on a plate… it goes especially well with cold Roast Pork, also Roast Chicken

Bulgur Wheat or Couscous are also brilliant things to serve on Lettuce; as is the delicious Lamb mixture from the the Potato and Lamb cake recipes from Moro

 

 

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