HEAD LETTUCE - ROMAINE

Romaine lettuce has a crunchy, crisp rib that makes for hearty salads in the summer and winter. Romaine is easier to wash than butterhead and a salad spinner is not necessary if you’re washing the leaves whole. In fact, because the leaves are so long, a salad spinner can break that crunchy rib and bruise it, making for a soggy salad later. Chop the core, holding the remaining leaves together as best as possible and run them under cold water. Then, stand the leaves up in a prep bowl to allow the water to drip down the rib and get caught in the bowl so you can empty it out.

Salads are something we eat a lot at our house, learning to be flexible with seasonal ingredients as they come around. It’s important to think about the physics of a salad. Which ingredients sink to the bottom of the bowl, and which ones are lofty and float on the surface? One tool that gets a lot of use at our house is the vegetable peeler. We use it to “peel” entire carrots, creating long, thin ribbons that lay on top of the greens without rolling to the bottom like a dense carrot coin would. Cabbage roughly cut into chunks are tough to chew in a salad, but super thin shreds are a textural addition to a leafy salad. When I was a kid, after getting our weekly groceries, my mom would pre-make a huge salad (without the dressing) and keep it in the fridge for us to eat throughout the week. A few of our members have told us that they do the same thing. Keeping some roasted veggies or some pre-cut raw veggies for adding to salads is a great way to have a quick and easy option for nourishing salads.

STORAGE: Store in a closed container or in a plastic bag in the fridge. Keeping the greens closed off from the dry air in the fridge can make them last for longer than a week.

RECIPES:

This vinaigrette recipe can be used as a base for any other flavors you hope for in a dressing. We always have a big ole jar in the fridge.

Basic Vinaigrette

• 1 c olive oil

• 1/2 c balsamic or red wine vinegar

• 2 T mustard (you can use any kind but dijon or brown is real nice)

• 2 T red onion or shallot (minced)

• 1 T maple syrup

• salt and pepper to taste

• * for a creamy dressing, add 1/4 yogurt or mayo

• * add basil, parsley, mint, oregano for some added flavor

• * for spicy, add some chili flakes

In a large mixing bowl, add vinegar, mustard, onion, and any herbs you want. Whisk together, slowly adding the olive oil and whisking rapidly to create an emulsification. Alternatively, put all ingredients in a wide mouth jar and blend with an immersion blender.