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Green Food Energy: Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)

By Gwen Nyhus Stewart

Braised Peas and Lettuce

16 pearl onions, halved

10.5 oz (300 g) frozen peas

2 tbsp. (30 mL) olive oil

3 baby lettuce, finely shredded

Cook the pearl onions for 5 minutes and the peas for 2 minutes in separate pans of boiling water until the onions are soft and the peas are just cooked.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, brown the onions, then add the peas and shredded lettuce. Cook just to heat the lettuce through, then season and serve.

Fried Lettuce
2 cups (500 mL) shredded lettuce
1 small onion, sliced
1 potato, diced, then boiled
1 egg
sea salt, to taste
Spanish paprika, to taste

garlic powder, to taste
cumin, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
3/4 cup (175 mL) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (125 mL) water
Boil potatoes until soft. Drain water, and let cool. While potatoes cool, combine lettuce, onion, egg, salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, garlic powder and one-half cup water. Stir well, and let stand 15 minutes. Then add flour to thicken. Final mixture should not be too thick or too thin. With a large tablespoon, drop in hot oil and cook long enough to brown one side, about two minutes. Turn over, and brown other side, about two minutes. Serves 2.

Lettuce Soup

2 oz. (50 g) butter

8 spring onions, trimmed and chopped

4 small butterhead lettuce

2 baby lettuce

3 1/4 cup (800 mL) chicken stock, or half milk, half stock

small bunches soft herbs, such as mint, basil and chervil

good squeeze lemon juice

2 tbsp. (30 mL) heavy cream

Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan and sweat the spring onions for about 5 minutes, until completely soft. Trim the base off each lettuce then slice or tear it and add it to the buttery onions. Heat the lettuce until it wilts and softens in its juices. Add the herbs and warm stock. Season and blend to a smooth soup using a stick blender or in a food processor. Taste and add lemon juice, seasoning, and the cream if you want to use it. Serve either hot or cold.

Savory Cooked Lettuce

6 slices bacon

12 cups (3 quarts) shredded lettuce

2 tbsp. (30 mL) vinegar

sea salt, to taste

onion juice, to taste

Cook the bacon in a heavy skillet until brown and crisp, and remove it from the

fat. Add the shredded lettuce to the hot fat and stir until it wilts. Add the vinegar and bacon broken in small pieces, salt if needed, and onion juice if desired. Serve at once.

Stir-Fried Garlic Lettuce

1 head iceberg lettuce

1 1/2 tsp. (7 mL) light soy sauce

1 1/2 tsp. (7 mL) sesame oil

1 tsp. (5 mL) rice wine or dry sherry

3/4 tsp. (8 mL) sugar

1/4 tsp. (1.2 mL) freshly ground white pepper

3 tbsp. (60 mL) vegetable oil

3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

1/4 tsp. (1.2 mL) kosher salt

Core the lettuce and cut into quarters. Separate into leaves. Wash and dry the lettuce thoroughly.

Combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, sugar and pepper in a small bowl.

Heat a wok or 14 inch (35 cm) skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the vegetable oil and garlic, and stir-fry 10 seconds. Add the lettuce and stir-fry 1 minute. Add salt and stir-fry another minute, or until lettuce is just limp. Swirl in the sauce and cook 1 minute longer, or until the lettuce is just tender and is still bright green. Serve immediately. Serves 4 to 6 as part of a multi-course meal.

See Green Coloured Foods in the Plants, Food Colours, & Recipes section of this web site, and http://www.gwenshealinggarden.ca/Recipes.htm for additional information about the healing properties of green, phytonutrients, and recipes.

(See The Healing Garden: A Place Of Peace Chapter 7, Colour and Healing Energy, page 63 for more information about what the colour green means and Chapter 8, Colour Energy, Plants, and Recipes pages 78 - 81 for information about using green in the garden and recipes.)

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