No matter how careful I think I’m being when I plant, it happens every year. Too much garden fresh loose leaf lettuce. A glut. An overflow.
Unlike that greenish white bowling ball of iceberg you buy at the store, fresh garden lettuce has an extremely limited lifespan in the fridge. Lettuce also doesn’t tend to last well in the garden.
Correction-it would last a very long time in the garden if the temperature stayed nice and cool-but invariably the weather warms and your lettuce will bolt, fulfilling its biological imperative to make more little lettuce plants by sending up a stalk and turning bitter. I will say personally I’ve had good luck with “SloBolt” which is-well-slow to bolt. You may not be able to find it in your mega center, but a quick internet search should pull up a vendor quickly.
The first thing to do if you want to lengthen the life of you lettuce harvest is to treat it right when you pick it. Separate the leaves then soak in lukewarm water to get all the dirt off. Lift the leaves out of the water (don’t pour the water off or all the grit will just settle back on the produce).
Next you need to remove the water. I recommend using a salad spinner but if you don’t have one you can wrap the lettuce in a towel (or place them in a string bag like one of those white mesh lingerie bags for your dryer) and head outside. Whirl the towel/bag around your head and let the natural centrifugal force fling the moisture away.
For storage wrap the leaves in paper or regular towels (to absorb moisture) and place in a plastic bag in the fridge. There are plenty of fantastic salad recipes out there to shake things up a bit from your basic “garden salad”. Lettuce can fill up wraps or sandwiches, or if you really want t0 be innovative you could try Thai Lettuce Folds.
But what if you are sick of salads, sandwiches & wraps? Never fear. I went to my favorite garden vegetable resource-The Victory Garden Cookbook. I love this book-it has an entire chapter on each type of vegetable!
According to the book, you can COOK lettuce.
Yes, I know. Heresey.
But what do you have to lose? It’s just going to wind up in the compost pile at this rate right? So give it a try. If you don’t like it then just ditch it and you are no worse off than when you started.
So how exactly does this magical cooking process work? Well to start off with she says the stiffer, more bitter lettuces seem to work better, but you can really use any type of lettuce. There are several basic cooking methods: Saute, Blanch, Steam & Braise.
Sauteed: Saute in olive oil or butter until leaves are wilted & tender. Turn the heat up to high briefly to cook off the additional moisture and “dry out” the greens at the very end of the process. Need a recipe to follow? Try this one for Wilted Lettuce. If you go without a recipe, you can finish the sauteed lettuce simply with heavy cream cooked down till it coats the leaves* and add salt & pepper. or saute onions & garlic before adding the lettuce.
Blanched: Clean the head of lettuce very well by soaking in a sink full of water for a few minutes then gently swishing up and down. Then either drop the entire head into a pot of boiling salted water for just a few minutes, or blanch individual leaves for 1 minute. Plunge blanched lettuce in an ice water bath to stop cooking. Blanching removes strong bitterness. You can finish by tossing the leaves with herbs, spices, lemon or seasonings. Blanched leaves can be used to wrap meats before cooking. This looks fancy and helps the meat inside retain it’s moisture without adding additional fat. Additionally you can use blanched lettuce leaves in the same way you would use blanched grape leaves to make Dolmades
Braising: Start by blanching the entire head of very well cleaned lettuce for about 2 minutes, then plunge in cool water. Drain and gently squeeze out water. Place in a greased baking dish, sprinkle w/salt & pepper, and cover with 2 c broth & 1 C water. Bring pan to simmer on stove top then cover & place in oven to braise at 350 for about 1 hr. When done you can reduce the liquid down, add a pat of butter & use it for sauce. For a different version you can follow this recipe for Braised Hearts of Lettuce with Peas.
Steamed: Steam entire heads of lettuce then finish in the same way as the blanched leaves.
So you can see, there are many ways to use up that excess of lettuce. You can even make soup~but you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to find out about that. . . I’ll be experimenting this afternoon and post about it tomorrow if it turns out well.
So what other ways do you know of to use up lettuce? Have you tried any of these cooking methods?
Toni-Lynn says
WOW! I had no idea! Thanks for the helpful information. We are going to do a big garden next year so now I know what to do with all the lettuce!
Toni-Lyn
@Toni_GPB
Kathy from Cold Climate Gardening says
We do this with escarole, which some people use in salads: saute garlic in olive oil, add chicken broth and chopped greens. Cook until greens are tender. Sprinkle with parmesan and freshly ground pepper. If you add a lot of chicken broth plus cooked white beans, it becomes escarole and white bean soup. I don’t see why this can’t be done with lettuce.
Chris says
I first encountered cooked lettuce in China. It was ‘interesting’. Actually it wasn’t half bad, once I got over the mindset of ‘but lettuce is salad and salad is raw!’
Robyns Online World says
We didn’t do well with our 1st time trying to grow lettuce, but we are learning. Would love to be able to just go pluck some fresh leaves for sandwiches in the summer or a nice salad. I think I will skip the cooked lettuce though – I am just not a warm greens type of person.
kathleen says
Thank you thank you! We are overloaded with lettuce right now, and I really needed some ideas on what to do with it. I’m enjoying your blog, and it was so nice meeting you at BlogHer (I met you via Naomi of superdumb supervillain). I even have a photo of the three of us on my blog, which was taken by one of the photographers from the event
http://katydidandkid.blogspot.com/2009/07/blogher-recap.html
TJ says
I grew up eating wilted lettuce and it was considered a fancy treat to munch on lettuce that was coated with bacon and vinegar. My mouth waters just thinking about it. YUM!
I never have extra lettuce. This is the first year some actually grew, and only because it was in a pot. I think our cool spring that quickly jumps to extreme heat is part of the problem.
TJ says
Ooh forgot to note, we didn’t use that much bacon grease, the recipe is a little high. Typically my mom would just cook several strips of bacon, and drain part of the grease off. Then she’d saute the green onions in it and throw in the vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar. Then just poor the whole mess over the lettuce.
Alison says
Yes, cooked lettuce, heresy!
Funny that it creeps me out, when I eat sauteed spinach and kale and Swiss chard all the time.
You’ve inspired me to be brave, however.
I have a friend who makes a BLT soup – lettuce AND bread in soup! Double heresy! But it’s very tasty, as long as I remind myself not to be creeped out by soggy bread and cooked lettuce, lol!
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says
Yes, sometimes we all need to be brave and try new things. I still haven’t gotten around to trying the lettuce soup, which is why I haven’t posted it yet. . .
andrew says
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Tammy says
These are great tips. I have never had braised lettuce but since I’m in a glut right now, I’m going to do it.
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says
I’m so jealous that you already have lettuce-here in Upstate NY we are only just getting our first signs of spring-even lettuce is weeks away!
Simone says
thanks for some great ideas.
I’ve also grilled it –
split romaine lettuce heads in half, put in ziploc bag with italian dressing for about 1 hour, then grill, split side down for about 10 minutes.
jennifer says
i like to use my lettuce in soup i’m veering away from meat
Karen says
I grow a lot of lettuce this year. I wanted to find something to do with it. I found lettuce soup, it’s easy to make and everyone liked it. Will make again soon. I ‘m letting my lettuce go to seed and hope to same the seeds for next year. Maybe I’ll freeze some lettuce to make soup in the winter.Karen
Jenn @ Frugal Upstate says
That sounds really interesting Karen!
Janice Richardson says
I absolutely love to sautee lettuce in olive oil with gatrlic. Absolutely delicious.