Did you ever eat a soggy chip and thought it tasted disgusting? When it really tasted the same but the texture was simply wrong?
In a recent article Adam Liaw mused that texture is more important than taste. To be honest I first thought he was nuts, but the soggy chip example got me immediately. Imagine your favourite salt and vinegar chip soaked in water! Yuk.
So with that in mind, isn’t a dish most beautiful to eat when it’s not just balanced in flavour, but also balanced in texture? I’ve noticed that I started adding things to dishes not just for their flavour, but for their texture. Which really can be as simple as toasted nuts and seeds to top of a bowl of soup.
Interestingly iceberg lettuce is something that I never really liked until I realized the benefits of its texture. It doesn’t taste of much, I don’t really like it in salads, but its fresh crunch is fabulous.
Here are 5 examples of how you can enjoy iceberg lettuce, that aren’t salads:
1. Wrap your springrolls!
Every Pho restaurant in Melbourne will serve you their spring rolls with a plate full of iceberg lettuce and herbs. This is where I first learned to take a lettuce leaf, place some herbs in it (frequently vietnamese mint or thai basil) and wrap the spring roll before eating. I’ve never looked back. Arguably a spring roll has enough crunch already, but the freshness the lettuce and herbs add is fantastic.
You get reasonably good frozen springrolls in the supermarket and I really think you should have that in your freezer at any point. (Sure, you can make your own. Go you!) And if you don’t grow your own mint yet you really should – you practically can’t kill it. Trust me, it must be the most neglected plant in my garden and yet it thrives.
Then you pick up a head of iceberg lettuce and have a snack for a crowd ready in now time!
I’ve been known to eat this for lunch too :).
2. Toss it in a pan
I’ve been making this beautiful French braised peas recipe for a while now and just love it for its moorishness. It adds gem lettuce to the peas in the pan, which adds crunch (and extra greens).
So when I was making a pan fry this week, I remembered the iceberg lettuce in the fridge. I chopped up a quarter and added it to the dish before serving. It worked great: crunch, freshness and all!
- Slice up some Polish Kransky’s and fry in a non-stick pan. (I used 4 small ones)
- Add in some oil if necessary and lots of frozen peas.
- Sprinkle with salt.
- Stir occasionally until peas are cooked.
- Toss in some baby spinach that you may have wilting in your fridge.
- Squeeze in some lemon juice (only a little).
While this is cooking, stir together a sauce with
- vegenaise
- lemon juice
- cashew butter
- water for thinning if necessary
When ready to serve, stir the sauce through the pan fry and top it with lots of chopped iceberg lettuce!
3. Top off your soup!
A lot of my food memories are connected to people or places, rather than the actual food. Iceberg lettuce in soup is decidedly connected to my years in Cologne and my cousin Gaby. She had a knack for delicious and effortless food, always made with a glass of champagne in hand. That’s pretty much what I aspire to. The best meals are always made with a glass of Champagne in hand, don’t you think?
She prepared a Mediterranean fish soup for me, with saffron, vegetables and fresh tomato. Each bowl was topped with iceberg lettuce for crunch and grated parmesan that would melt into the soup. Now that I think about it, this was twenty years ago!! It seems to me like it was yesterday.
I will make sure to dig out this recipe soon!
4. Rice Paper Rolls
It doesn’t say it in the recipe, but you can absolutely add chopped iceberg lettuce to rice paper rolls. Or to sushi rolls for that matter.
Making sushi rolls has been on my wish list for ages. Must get to it.
5. Use it as a wrap
San choy bau style!
Look, I’m not telling you to forever swap the wraps for lettuce leaves, but if you have to get through a big head of iceberg lettuce, why not! Nothing stops you from filing your taco toppings into lettuce leaves instead. Or anything else that you would wrap up normally. In fact I might put the taco idea on next week’s menu!
There you go. 5 things to do with iceberg lettuce that aren’t salad :).
It doesn’t bring taste to a dish, but crunch and freshness in spades. And that is worth something if you ask me.
Much love,
Katrine x
