food ack (aka, 'hey, you're totally not kale')

[moominmolly]

I love crazy flavorful greens I can cook, but I'm kind of eh on lettuce. What do I do with it? Say "salad" and I kick you.

EDIT: Wraps! Of course! You are genius.

Comments

[veek.livejournal.com]

Wrap it around a slice of deli meat and a slice of deli cheese. Roll into a cigar shape. Dip in tasty something or other – hummus, dressing, what have you.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Clearly rolls/wraps of some kind are the answer. Now I want thai beef salad.

[veek.livejournal.com]

Well! Funny you should mention that... *looks at watch*

[entrope.livejournal.com]

What kind of lettuce? Leaf lettuce can be sauteed briefly with garlic or thrown in soup at the last bit of cooking or even blanched and dipped in oyster sauce.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

mmm! yes! all of that sounds fun!

[metagnat.livejournal.com]

I like making random dinners and using lettuce as a kind of wrap for them. Things I have found this works well with include meatloaf, various forms of potatoes and macaroni and cheese. Anything au gratin, I think, would be good wrapped up in a little crisp & crunchy lettuce. It works with things that are saucy but not things that are runny.

Would also work as a lining for taco or burrito shells.

I'm not a big lettuce fan either, and I find having mine wrapped around moderate piles of flavorful meats really takes the curse off.

-E

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, wrapping. I like that. N might even like that.

[nonnihil.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head -- lettuce rolls. http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060802/news_lz1f02wraps.html eg.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Clearly the answer, and a fantastic excuse to make a spicy limey thai salad.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

My beloved makes "improv gazpacho," wherein you can dump the crisper drawer into the blender with a lot of garlic and some olive oil and get tasty soup.

Also, those Thai-ish lettuce roll things, where you dump spicy meat or whathaveyou down the middle, roll up, and nom.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Hee hee, improv gazpacho! Right now my crisper has too many turnips for this to work, but I love the idea.

This is Google Image Search's result for "omnomnom lettuce":

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Wow - is that guy in my crisper drawer? I gotta go home right now and check!!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

OMNOMNOM!

[dpolicar]

I don't much care for it myself, so I hear you.
Wraps, as mentioned.
Chopped fine and added to rice works pretty well.
Restaurants always seem to use it as a garnish... the traditional "bed of lettuce"... presumably as an admission that it isn't really food. (grins)
Salad. (ow!)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

presumably as an admission that it isn't really food.

Right! My eating style at home is, shall we say, low-frill; the idea of garnishing it with lettuce for visual appeal makes me giggle.

Salad. (ow!)

Not as much as that, though.

Chopped fine and added to rice

I wonder what else it would be good added to? I'm all about cold lentil salads right now, and I could see that working. Maybe some kind of black bean thing, too... hmm! White rice usually kind of makes me want to cry with its extreme dullness, but brown rice and diced lettuce with some citrusy peppery dressing might be good.

[dbang.livejournal.com]

If it's crispy sort of lettuce, chop it up and add it to a non-lettuce type salad...chicken or egg or whatever.

Also I enjoy the spines of crispy romaine lettuce in place of celery for snacks...spread with cream cheese or whatever.

Non-crispy lettuce I pretty much have no use for.

[dpolicar]

(nods) You _can_ use lettuce pretty much anywhere you'd use baby spinach, I would think... stews, casseroles, etc... but why on Earth would you not use baby spinach instead?

I hear some people even put it in sandwiches.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

One word: FARMSHARE. Okay, maybe a word and a half. Still.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm all about cold lentil salads right now, and I could see that working.

Yeah, somehow, putting beans on top kind of disguises the salad-ness for me, and basically all bean salads are ok over stuff. I made and liked this one recently.

[trom.livejournal.com]

Feed it to rabbits until they are nice and plump, then slaughter, stuff with rice and prunes, salt & pepper then roast at 400 until tasty.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

That dish takes SOOOOOO LONG.

[trom.livejournal.com]

It's all about slow food...

[beowabbit]

I was going to suggest the rabbit option, too.

[nitouche.livejournal.com]

Hah. Simon marches around our garden lettuces, chanting "NO BUNNIES ALLOWED". Not that bunnies are a big issue in Toronto, and I'm partial to a nice Thumper pie myself...

[kungfoogirl.livejournal.com]

Is it bad that I'd say salad just to get kicked?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

No! Not bad at all. *kicks you*

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

Chinese Stir Fried Lettuce (http://chinesefood.about.com/od/vegetablesrecipes/r/fried_lettuce.htm)

Barbecued lettuce (http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall/hugh-s-barbecued-lettuce-recipe_p_1.html)

Potage ambassedeur: split pea soup with bacon, sorrel & lettuce (http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/restaurant/menu81/ambassadeur.html)

N.

Braise it!

[trom.livejournal.com]

Though not very summerish... http://www.jacquespepin.net/members/recipes/braisedlettuce.html

[nacht_musik]

I'm astonished no one has suggested saag. Traditionally, saag is made with "whatever leafy greens you have handy". If it's green and leafy, it will go into saag just fine. Be careful with oddly-flavored greens -- too much carrot/parsnip greens in a saag makes it unpleasantly bitter -- but, in moderation, anything goes, and makes for a richer, more complex flavor. If you're mixing greens, start with the tougher ones and work your way down to "lettuce" as you cook. :-)

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

A salad that is less of a green salad and more of a protein-y salad might bother you less too. like: nicoise-ish salad with hard boiled (duck, for you, I guess) egg, boiled potato, green beens, optional fish (I like tuna or smoked trout), olives, some kind of vinaigrette type dressing.

I have liked the lettuce soup recipe here, too: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/LETTUCE-SOUP-231995
Maybe when it cools down a bit more.

[nitouche.livejournal.com]

Ooh. I like the smoked trout idea for a niçoise. Smoked whitefish would be even nicer.

[cuthalion.livejournal.com]

Isn't lettuce one of the 9 ingredients that you can permute to get all Americany Mexican food?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Only if it's iceberg!

What works depends on what kind of lettuce...

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Crisper/firmer lettuce can be shredded and stir-fried, braised, or treated like greens.

Slivered lettuce can be used in a non-lettucy cold bean salad. Your idea of lentil salad sounds about right.

Minced and mixed with tabbouleh?

Many lettuces can be used in Cream of Whatever Greens Soup (recipe buried in my LJ; short version is saute chopped onion & garlic, add greens & a small bit of liquid, cover, simmer till well cooked, puree, thin with liquid of choice such as tomato juice or milk or stock, then add a bit of tabasco and other seasonings). Or added to Vichyssoise.

Wilted with lots of garlic and slivered almonds.

[rising-moon.livejournal.com]

It's really the only green thing (aside from salsa verde) that I like on tacos. (Shredded.)

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

lettuce is not people food! find a nice bunny. :)

Lettuce Soup

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

This lettuce soup recipe sounds good but I've never gotten around to making it.

1 Tb unsalted butter
1/2 Tb vegetable oil
1 cup liced leek, white only
1 medium shallot, minded
4 cups vegetable broth or water
1 pkg (10 oz) salad mix - romaine & leaf lettuce finely chopped
3 medium potatoes, pared & diced (about 2.5 cups)
salt
pepper
1 Tb snipped fresh dill
3 Tb half & half

- melt butter in dutch over on medium heat
- add oil, leak & shallot: toss to coat
- cover & cook 2 minutes until the leeks are softened
- add the broth, salad mix, and potatoes
- cok, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes
- season with salt & pperp to taste & stire int he dill
- cool, then refrigerate at least 3 hours
- before serving, strir in the half & half



From "366 Healthful ways to Cook Leafy Greens" Linda Romanelli Leahy

[abilouise.livejournal.com]

Braised lettuce, found in not-the-most-recent Joy of Cooking makes it taste like a Real Vegetable.