Braised Gem Lettuce With Peas And Dill Recipe
Sam and Sam Clark invite you to try cooking lettuces – a vegetable not cooked (or braised in this case) often enough.
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 medium carrot, finely diced
- 1 banana shallot, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 1 tbsp of thyme leaves
- 40g of unsalted butter
- 4 little gem lettuce hearts, trimmed, cut in half lengthways
- 70ml of medium white wine, or water
- 200g of petit pois, or peas
- 4 tbsp of dill, half roughly chopped and the rest fronds picked
- 1 tbsp of lemon juice
- 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
- Heat the olive oil in a wide lidded frying pan over a medium-high heat. When hot, fry the carrot, shallot, garlic and thyme with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes until starting to caramelise, stirring regularly. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set aside
- Add the butter to the pan and, when it starts to foam, add the lettuces, cut-side down. Fry for 6-7 minutes then turn and fry for another 2 minutes until golden brown on both sides
- For the lemon dressing, using a spoon or small whisk, stir the lemon juice and olive oil together until well combined, then season with salt and pepper
- Add the wine or water, the shallot mixture and the peas to the lettuces. Cover and simmer for 30 seconds
- Add the chopped dill then continue to cook for a couple more minutes with the lid off. Serve with the lemon dressing and remaining dill fronds on top
Braising intensifies the lettuces’ natural bitterness and offers the perfect opportunity to infuse flavour from the braising liquid – in this case from white wine, shallots, garlic and carrot. Somewhere between a Turkish zeytinyağlı marul and a French petits pois à la française, this dish is finished with sweet peas, a sour lemon dressing and plenty of dill – it’s basically sweet and sour heaven.
Heat the olive oil in a wide lidded frying pan over a medium-high heat. When hot, fry the carrot, shallot, garlic and thyme with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes until starting to caramelise, stirring regularly. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set aside
Add the butter to the pan and, when it starts to foam, add the lettuces, cut-side down. Fry for 6-7 minutes then turn and fry for another 2 minutes until golden brown on both sides
For the lemon dressing, using a spoon or small whisk, stir the lemon juice and olive oil together until well combined, then season with salt and pepper Add the wine or water, the shallot mixture and the peas to the lettuces.
Cover and simmer for 30 seconds Add the chopped dill then continue to cook for a couple more minutes with the lid off.
Serve with the lemon dressing and remaining dill fronds on top
