Currently viewing the tag: "butter lettuce"
This recipe takes my riff on the classic French peas cooked in lettuce as its inspiration. The squash stands in for the peas, and the trick is to not overcook the squash or it will turn mushy and bitter. The little bit of sugar helps with the flavors as well as helping get some color on the squash. This dish comes together quickly and is a boon when in a hurry or making something fancy on the other burners.
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This salad is a contrast of textures and flavor elements. Soft butter lettuce and crunchy radish. Bright clean flavors of radish and lettuce against the smoky charred notes of earthy funk laden scallions. This is nice with a big slab of well toasted country rye bread with plenty of really good butter on it flecked with large crystal salt such as Murray River or Sel de Guerande.
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The beans get cooked and dropped into a dressing while still hot so they absorb lots of flavor. The tomatoes add bright notes to the salad while the lettuce texture plays well with the other elements. The beans could be made a day or two ahead, and would easily mix into other preparations.
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I know it sounds strange, or over the top, but this actually works. Really well. It hits on many so levels, and the acid of the vegetables balance out the richness of the egg and meat. I first encountered this in Australia, then again recently in Seattle. This version is improved a little over the original-everything is cut so that less stuff falls into your lap. In Australia, anything with a fried egg thrown in is having with “the lot”.
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Sometimes I have artichokes and am not sure when I will get them into a menu, so I will just cook them when I get the chance whether I intend to serve them at that moment or not. They are good cold, can be re-heated, or worked into something else, as happened here. The combination of artichoke and potato is a great one, especially with sweet waxy potatoes such as Yukon Golds or a fingerling type. This salad would be good with some cauliflower florets blanched and dressed while hot, then cooled and added in.
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This recipe calls for a sweet mustard spiked dressing, but this combo would really well with an orangey-creamy dressing such as Creamy Orange Dressing (see recipe) or Orange Poppyseed Cream Dressing (see site for recipe). If using an orange based dressing, try adding pistachios or almonds instead of sunflower seeds.
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This is very definitely an autumnal salad that is a study of contrasts and complements. If you can get the pomegranate seeds, do use them as the acid really adds to the whole. This salad can easily be turned into a full meal by enlarging it and adding grilled chicken or shrimp that has marinated in pomegranate juice, garlic, and mint.
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This salad is a study in contrasts with the tender slightly bitter Butter lettuces and the silky nutty avocado up against the crunchy sweet-tart elements of the quickles. Using plenty of Italian parsley in the vinaigrette gives an earthy and green element to bring things together.
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For this salad, you want to use a softer lettuce such as a butter lettuce or green or red leaf. It works better with the blueberries, as something crunchier, like romaine, might overwhelm the berries texture and flavor. The dressing uses basil as the herb, but you could try mint instead. A little arugula would work well, but go lightly or the sharpness could drown out the other ingredients.
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