Lettuce

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Spring, fall

Lettuces are pretty fragile although romaine is the toughest of them all. For longest storage, wash the heads carefully, even removing each leaf to get out all the dirt (and perhaps a critter or two) that hides between the leaves. Then wrap in something absorbent (I roll up the leaves in dishtowels) and overwrap loosely in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to use. This is one vegetable you don’t want to chop up until right before you’re ready to serve.

(2023) Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing and Croutons

We’ve returned from a ten day road trip to the Madawaska Kanu Centre (MKC) in Ontario. In addition to a week full of daily paddling instruction, their kitchen kicks out homecooked meals three times a day. I grabbed some of their recipe cards from the gift store.

MKC puts their freshest produce forward by serving cut fresh veggies with a dip at every lunch and dinner. The recipe cards didn’t include my favorite dip from the week, but this Caesar salad dressing can be served with the sliced peppers, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes from this week’s box.

(2023) Stir-Fried Lettuce (or Swiss Chard)

If you’re ready to do something else with lettuce, although I think I’m just going to enjoy the pretty red lettuce we got in a few big salads, then there’s a recipe for a lettuce stir fry from “Tenderheart,” but you could also use it for the Swiss chard. Adapted from Hetty McKinnon’s “Tenderheart.” This should work well with all kinds of tender greens.

(2023) Butter Lettuce, Grape, Fennel, Walnut + Buttermilk Salad

I do have a recipe for a salad, this one from “Pulp: A Practical Guide to Cooking with Fruit” by Abra Berens. I love that the only dressing is buttermilk. Could it be more simple? Helps that I love buttermilk! Berens includes fennel, but I’d substitute radishes and green onions if I wanted to stick with what’s in the box. The grapes are just a nice addition to a salad, but you’re right, we’ll never see those in a Georgia produce box.

(2019) Mark Bittman’s Vegetable Pancakes

Vegetable pancakes seem to be a thing these days, and I love this recipe from Mark Bittman that will use up any vegetable you have on hand. You can use some of that lettuce if you chop it and maybe saute a little before mixing into the batter. Spinach? Sure. Grated kohlrabi. Absolutely. Chopped cabbage, probably anything from this week’s box except maybe the tomatoes which might turn watery.We eat these either with a little soy sauce or a little hot honey. That’s my new addiction and I’m not even a fan of hot sauces. But hot and sweet like the hot honeys people are producing these days? Love it.

(2017) Buttermilk Green Onion Dressing

Sort of a takeoff of ranch dressing but with fewer herbs. You can add anything you like, of course, but finely chopped green onions (or the tender part of the greens from that big garlic head) are perfect. It might seem like overkill to have buttermilk, sour cream AND mayonnaise in a dressing, but it works. Sorry I don’t remember where the original recipe came from. Works for your lettuce or if you want a more traditional mayo-based slaw. Just increase the recipe as needed for your greens.

(2017) Basic Vinaigrette

With all that lettuce, you’re likely to make a salad. Please don’t use something from the store. Make your own!

(2017) Kale and Lettuce and Strawberry Salad

So you’ll eat many of those strawberries just as they are but when you’re ready for a recipe, try this salad from Jenny Levison of Souper Jenny. Again, it’s adapted from a chef demo at the Peachtree Road Farmers Market.

Curried Tempeh and Apple Salad

Adapted from “Salad Samurai: 100 Cutting-Edge, Ultra-Hearty, Easy-to-Make Salads You Don’t Have to Be Vegan to Love” by Terry Hope Romero.

Grilled Romaine with Simple Blue Cheese Dressing

Storing lettuce: rinse the leaves and spin them dry in a salad spinner. If you have space, storing the leaves in the salad spinner is great. But that takes up a lot of room in the refrigerator. You can wrap the washed leaves in a dry tea towel and then drop that into a plastic bag that you don’t seal tight. I find that if I clean the lettuce when I get it home, I’m a lot more likely to add it to a sandwich or make it into a salad then if I have to do all that prep when I’m ready to eat.

Lettuce Sauce

This is a recipe from Emeril Lagasse. No cooking involved. If you’re worried about the raw egg yolk, just eliminate it.

Storing lettuce: rinse the leaves and spin them dry in a salad spinner. If you have space, storing the leaves in the salad spinner is great. But that takes up a lot of room in the refrigerator. You can wrap the washed leaves in a dry tea towel and then drop that into a plastic bag that you don’t seal tight. I find that if I clean the lettuce when I get it home, I’m a lot more likely to add it to a sandwich or make it into a salad then if I have to do all that prep when I’m ready to eat.

Lettuce Soup

I have no idea where I found this recipe, but it came with this note: “Equally delicious warm or chilled, a simple pureed soup of lettuce, potato, onion, and chicken stock is seasoned with hints of parsley, nutmeg and lemon and fortified with a touch of cream. Unlike lettuce in the raw, the soup only gets better as it sits and can be gently reheated throughout the week.”

Storing lettuce: rinse the leaves and spin them dry in a salad spinner. If you have space, storing the leaves in the salad spinner is great. But that takes up a lot of room in the refrigerator. You can wrap the washed leaves in a dry tea towel and then drop that into a plastic bag that you don’t seal tight. I find that if I clean the lettuce when I get it home, I’m a lot more likely to add it to a sandwich or make it into a salad then if I have to do all that prep when I’m ready to eat.

Salad with Creamy Lemon Dressing

Make dressing: in a medium bowl, combine lemon zest and juice, garlic, mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in oil until thickened. Whisk in sour cream. Toss together lettuce; transfer to serving platter. Pass dressing on the side.

Creamy Lettuce and Garlic Soup

Sometimes you want something to do with lettuce besides eat it in a salad. This recipes is from seriouseats.com. You can serve this soup chilled or hot. It goes together in minutes.

Grated Raw Beet Salad

This recipe is adapted from one by Martha Rose Shulman and published in the New York Times.

I’m always surprised by the number of people who think you can’t eat beets raw. Of course you can!

And if you scrub them well, you don’t even need to peel them. Just trim up the stem and root ends and that’s all the prep they need. Especially if you’re going to grate them.

Pasta with Sausage, Onions and Lettuce

If you’re thinking you’d like to do something with that head of romaine beyond fixing yet another salad, remember that the leaves make fabulous wraps for grilled anything. Or for spring rolls. I came home from the beach a few weeks ago with a bag of wild Atlantic shrimp. I poached the shrimp and then made spring rolls, using shredded romaine in place of the traditional rice noodles. When it came to eating the rolls, I laid each one in another romaine lettuce leaf, and added a few leaves of mint and basil, dipped the whole thing into a spicy Vietnamese dipping sauce and enjoyed.

I also love the idea of slightly wilted romaine lettuce. See what you think about this recipe.

Spiced Lettuce Cake Bars

Finally, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to try this recipe for lettuce cake, and today’s bounty of lettuce provides the means. I saw this mentioned at SeriousEats.com last year, and although it calls for iceberg, I’m going to try it with our green leaf lettuce. Sounds like an interesting variation on carrot cake. The recipe comes Nicole Weston of BakingBites.com.