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Thursday, July 15, 2010

Dinner on the Grill - Roasted Lettuce

That title shouldn't be surprising since our grill seems to be in constant use all year round.  We've gotten in trouble a couple of times trying to cook something that needs to cook for quite a while - when it's the middle of winter and the grill has a tough time keeping the heat up.  I think there was a time that a roasted chicken took about three times as long to cook as it should have.  Oh, well, the joys of experimenting!  This time, though, our experiment had far better results.  While my stepsons (Greg and Matt) and Greg's girlfriend, Mary, were here visiting we went on a culinary tour of Indianapolis.  One of our stops was a delightful place that is now called Klaus'.  They specialize in all manner of smoked meats - along with some other really good meats.  I got one of everything in the smoked sausage arena, plus three fresh sausages. 



Those along with roasted corn on the cob and a salad would be dinner.  The grill was hot, why not try roasted romaine for the salad?  I made a quick creamy balsamic vinaigrette with loads of finely shredded romano to go on top and they were incredible!  I think next time I'll try blue cheese and maybe some chopped, roasted tomatoes from the garden...




Roasted Lettuce

1/2 heart of romaine per person
olive oil
dressing of your choice

Cut the lettuce in half lengthwise.  Brush them on both sides with olive oil.  Grill for 30 seconds per side over relatively high heat.  Grill them just until the lettuce starts to turn brown.

8 comments:

Chef Dennis Littley said...

we love grilled romaine for a salad, if you want to really kick it up a notch, try heating up a nice Caesar dressing, more of an oil based one, not creamy.....it really adds a lot of flavor!

Magic of Spice said...

Wow, roasted lettuce...I would never have thought of this:) I will have to give it a try...

Kate said...

Dennis - that sounds wonderful! May have to try it this weekend since we're going to have the grill going to grill some herbs for drinks. Hope you have a great weekend! Kate

Anonymous said...

Love grilled veggies, never would have thought of lettuce though. But why not, sounds great!

Nicole@The Dirty Oven via twitter @ovenloving said...

Grilled lettuce is so good. It makes the green have such a great flavor. Thanks for sharing

Alison Zulyniak said...

I'm so going to have to try this!! @Chef Dennis I like the idea of war Ceasar dressing as well!!

~Prairie Story ...care of Alison Zulyniak

Mother Rimmy said...

I've seen this done before and always wanted to try it. I love grilled veggies, but would never have thought of grilling lettuce.

Jason Phelps said...

I haven't been jazzed with our grilled lettuce so far. Not sure if there is a sweet spot to seasoning and grilled it. And we don't do anything different. Tried Napa cabbage as well.

Jason