I hate lettuce.

It’s taken a few years of experimentation, procrastination, and wilted salads for me to realize that I simply do not like lettuce^*.

The green stuff is not lettuce - I hate lettuce!

I have never been a huge fan of salads. Occasionally I’ll order one at a restaurant and I always eat them, but I have vague childhood recollections of plowing through a plate of salad just so I can get on with eating the good stuff. At home, I hate making them. Cleaning lettuce is tedious, even with a salad spinner. The ingredients don’t blend together well and there’s not much you can do to a salad besides arrange it. The pièce de résistance of the salad is the dressing which is only good because fat tastes good.

Last Winter I looked to a new cookbook for inspiration which helped, but did not solve the problem of not liking lettuce. This Winter I am continuing my quest for salads I actually enjoy. My most recent solution came from Cooks Illustrated: Fall Entertaining 2010. Page 46 had an article about “Warm Winter Salads” with three recipes and not a single mention of lettuce! After my shock, amazement, and excitement subsided and I read the article over and over to make sure I was not missing the L-word, I tried one of the recipes with success and, of course, some substitutions.

Radicchio and Watercress Salad with Warm Fennel and Walnut Dressing

recipe from Cooks Illustrated: Fall Entertaining 2010, p46

• 1 large garlic clove, minced or pressed (~1½ t)
• 1 T lemon juice
• 2 T sherry or white wine vinegar
• ¼ t table salt
• ⅛ t ground black pepper
• ⅓ c and 1 T extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 c walnuts, chopped
• 1 medium fennel bulb (~10 oz)
• 2-3 anchovy filets (~1 T chopped)
• 3 large bunches watercress (~6½ c)
• 1 medium head radicchio (~2½ c)
• 1½ oz Parmesan cheese, shaved

1. Cut the fennel bulb (minus the stem) into thin slices.
2. Whisk garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
3. Gradually whisk in ⅓ c oil until the dressing is smooth and emulsified.
4. Heat the walnuts in 1 T oil in a (nonstick) skillet over medium heat, stirring until lightly toasted (3 minutes).
5. Add fennel to the skillet and cook until it begins to soften and is very lightly golden (3 minutes).
6. Stir in anchovies and cook until fragrant (30 seconds).
7. Whisk dressing to blend and add to the skillet. Remove from the heat.
8. Toss the greens and dressing.
9. Shave cheese over each portion and serve immediately.

Notes
Watercress is a pain to clean and trim. I love kale but limit my consumption of it because of the effort involved in properly cleaning fresh curly kale. That being said, cleaning and trimming watercress made me want to clean kale. That’s saying a lot.
The recipe says it serves 6. I usually find that recipes say they serve 4 and I wonder what petite tasters they had. Not for this recipe! I ate watercress and fennel for about a week (lunch and dinner!) and it still wasn’t gone. Fortunately it was so good I didn’t mind a week of watercress salad!

Variations
As always, my recipe would not be complete without substitutions. I tried desperately to follow the magazine’s recipe exactly since they present their recipes with such precision and dediated research. I even went to a produce stand that imports nearly everything, rather than the local selection at the Fair Food Farmstand. However, radicchio was simply impossible to find 30 minutes before closing just after the holidays. So I used red cabbage and crossed my fingers. It was a bit tougher than radicchio so make sure you slice it very thin if you use it, but the flavor was fine. I also was not going to buy 2-3 anchovy filets to add a pungent flavor. Fortunately, I always keep anchovy paste on hand. A tablespoon did the trick.

*Full disclosure: there are many varieties of lettuce. I actually discovered one this summer that I cannot pass up – Butter Lettuce. I don’t know if it’s the way it looks, or its nearly velvety texture, or simply the fact that I usually pair it with shrimp, but I really like it. So this post should read that I hate all lettuce except for butter lettuce, excluding other types of lettuce that I have not tried.</span

Stuff this!

crimini mushrooms
photo courtesy of To-Jo Mushrooms

For the First Friday Holiday Walk, I wanted to make something undeniably delicious, but not sweet. Holidays = sweets. Everyone knows that and everyone follows that rule. I like to think of myself as a rule breaker. So I decided on savory. I’ve done pastry cups and squares way too much, but finger food is the way to go for a gallery event. What options are left? Mushrooms!

Stuffed mushrooms are delicious and savory finger food, so they were the perfect idea for the event. The problem? Time and experience. I never made stuffed mushrooms before and this being the holiday season, time was tight. Following the guidelines of preparation and planning, I glanced at Joy of Cooking Thursday night and went to the Fair Food Farmstand Friday at 5pm. First Friday is officially 6-9pm. I am proud to report that the mushrooms were served to “Mmmms” and “Ooooohs” at 6:30 sharp!

The following recipe is a combination of what I found at the market and what was in my fridge. It is entirely vegan and – in my opinion, but apparently no one else’s – tastes only decent. I cooked for the crowd, but if it were only for me, I would have pancetta, bacon, crab meat, shrimp, and beef or chicken stock in there. I understand the frustrations of being a vegetarian/vegan at parties, so I resisted my meaty urges, to much appreciation, except my own.

Stuffed Mushrooms

inspired by a recipe from Joy of Cooking

Ingredients

• 24 cremini mushrooms
• ½ c bread crumbs
• 3 shallots
• ¼ c celery
• 1 T worcestshire sauce
• ½ c vegetable stock
• ¼ c parsley
• 3 T olive oil

1. Wash and carefully remove the stems from the mushrooms.
2. Chop separately the mushroom stems, shallots, celery, and parsley.
3. Heat olive oil over a medium heat.
4. Add shallots and cook until soft.
5. Add celery and cook until tender.
6. Add mushroom stems and worcestshire sauce. Cook until the liquid is absorbed and released again.
7. Remove from the heat and add bread crumbs and parsley.
8. Add stock to the mixture until it clumps together.
9. Brush the top of the mushrooms with olive oil, fill with the mixture, and place on a baking sheet.
10. Broil for about 3 mintues, until the mushrooms and topping turn brown.

Broccoli, how do I love thee?

Let me count the ways: 1. Perhaps it is a result of over-exposure as a child to steamed broccoli. I am just not inspired by the miniature forests of the odorous vegetable. I get tired of green vegetables in general. Steam them, sautée them (high fat), or raw is just not good enough for me.

In spite of my broccoli-aversion, I picked up a giant bloom of it at the market last week. If I’m going to get my greens, I may as well try broccoli once or twice a year. Actually, my last encounter with broccoli was quite pleasant. At my aunt and uncle’s house in Virginia as we were making dinner, my aunt said, “Go out back and cut some broccoli.” We ate it steamed with some butter and it was delicious (as per my philosophy: Fat tastes good!). So I was open to trying my hand at some tasty broccoli once again. The result was tasty, but will only be repeated twice a year at most. I think I’d rather have this recipe with cauliflower – but it’s not green!

"Out back" in Virginia, where I had a pleasant encounter with broccoli.

Broccoli Au Gratin

• 1 large head of broccoli
• 2 T butter
• ½ c evaporated milk
• ½ c bread crumbs
• ¼ c parmesan cheese

1. Wash and cut the broccoli into pieces.
2. Place the broccoli (I like including the stems!) in a casserole dish.
3. Pour milk over the broccoli and place bits of butter in the dish.
4. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and cheese over the broccoli.
5. Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes at 400F, until the broccoli is fork-tender.

Notes and Variations
This is a very basic way to cook vegetables. Another common variation is with cauliflower. The breadcrumbs and cheese form the "au gratin" topping, so be sure that it actually covers the broccoli. The crust keeps the broccoli from getting dried out while cooking. Another way to ensure moist vegetables is to cook the dish with a cover, then remove the cover for the last 10 minutes, or leave it under the broiler for a minute to brown and crisp the top.

For taste variations, sprinkle the vegetable with spices or mix them in with the topping. Mixing more than one cheese also makes the dish more interesting. Feta is a fun topping because it melts and gets brown and bubbly. A squeeze of lemon juice adds freshness to the dish, as does lemon zest in the topping. Explore and enjoy!