The dinner rush was over at the restaurant where I was cooking, and I stood before the six-burner stove, greasy and starving. But after hours spent watching pans of food spatter through filmy glasses, nothing on the menu looked remotely appetizing.
So every night I prepared the same frugal but reinvigorating repast - a basket of hot-from-the-water fettuccine dumped into a bowl of salad. I sloshed it together until the greens were hot and limp, and the vinaigrette coated the pasta. Sometimes I threw in a handful of roasted nuts or some fresh lashings of Parmesan cheese.It was so weird. It was soooo good.
What can I say? Hot lettuce spins my dials.
I love baby greens braised with the spring's first English peas and a sprig of thyme. I love the slippery crunch of escarole in an Italian soup. I love taking a perfectly salad-able head of red leaf lettuce and braising it with onions until its hidden flavor is coaxed forth.
And if I eat this healthy food often enough, I get to splurge occasionally on the wicked hot lettuce masterpiece: the classic French salade frisee aux lardons. Curly endive gets wilted with a sizzling wash of bacon grease, bacon chunks and vinegar, then topped with a poached egg.
My first taste of hot lettuce came from a near disaster, when guests waited patiently at the table as an overdressed salad was collapsing in the kitchen. My sister poked her head in to see what the holdup was, and I showed her the algaelike mass of lettuce and tomatoes that looked more like a frog habitat than a salad.
"Fry it," she said. I did, and have been ever since.
But now I know the proper way to wilt tender greens. Wash and chop them, then place them still damp into a hot skillet to cook covered until they release their moisture. The heat disrupts the turgid cellulose walls that keep the greens crisp, and the water stored inside rushes out like a flash flood. And there's an added bonus, according to Mary Lee Chin, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. Cooked lettuce gives you a concentrated shot of vitamin A and phytochemicals, which fight cancer.
Some people stop cooking the still-toothsome greens as soon as they wilt, removing them from their liquid with a slotted spoon. Not Madeleine Kamman.
The cookbook author ("The New Making of a Cook," Morrow, $40) and French culinary authority says, "I don't like the in-between. I like greens either raw or very well done."
She cooks leaf lettuce with some onion and shallot, and perhaps a bit of ham or a few fennel seeds, until the moisture evaporates andthe dense, mellow vegetable emerges.
"It's not something upper class, my friend," she warns. This French country treat is made with bruised outer leaves and wilted heads bought at cut rate from the market.
Italy has a tradition of growing heartier, less delicate varieties of lettuce that lend themselves to cooking, according to Jack Bishop, author of "The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook" (Houghton Mifflin). Leaf lettuce and stale bread make a quick soup, arugula is chopped and tossed into pasta to wilt, radicchio split, brushed with oil and grilled. In the Mediterranean, endive is braised or roasted.
Like Kamman, he stresses that cooked lettuce is nobody's idea of a gourmet preparation. Mostly these are "meager recipes that came out of peasant tradition."
The best ones usually are.
*****
Additional Information
Warm up to lettuce
According to Madeleine Kamman, a French cooking authority, cooked lettuce is a staple in country French homes. Budget-minded housewives buy huge quantities of wilted and leftover salad greens and cook them to a spinachy consistency. High in phytochemicals and vitamin A, well-cooked lettuce is also a digestive aid. Not to mention that it also tastes great if properly prepared. Here are some delicious variations.
WARM FETTUCCINE SALAD
Makes 4 servings
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
1/3 cup nuts (pecan pieces, sliced almonds, walnut pieces or chopped hazelnuts)
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mus-tard
1 1/2 tablespoons Spanish sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
1/4 cup olive oil or nut oil (pecan oil, almond oil, walnut oil or hazelnut oil)
Salt and freshly ground
Black pepper, to taste
1 to 1 1/2 quarts mesclun salad mix
1 pound fresh fettuccine
About 1/2 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
This quick pasta toss - a yuppie salad wilted by hot fettuccine - makes a terrific weeknight meal.
You can coordinate the preparation so that the just-toasted nuts sizzle enticingly as they go into the salad. Also, you should sliver the cheese with a vegetable peeler so that it melts into gooey little pockets.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread the nuts on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven until fragrant, about 10 minutes (5 minutes for slivered almonds).
Set a pot of salted water over a high heat to bring to the boil.
In a salad bowl, combine the shallot, mustard and vinegar with a whisk. Slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking constantly, to form an emulsion. Season with salt and pepper. Add greens and toss.
Add pasta to boiling water and cook for 3 minutes until tender. Drain thoroughly, leaving in the colander 1 minute to get rid of all the water.
Dump the hot pasta over the greens. Add toasted nuts and toss well. Adjust the seasoning. Using a vegetable peeler, slice the cheese over the top and toss briefly. Serve immediately.
- Per serving: 627 calories, 17 grams protein, 23 grams fat (percent calories from fat, 33), 88 grams carbohydrates, 3 milligrams cholesterol, 131 milligrams sodium.
SPRING PEAS AND LETTUCE
Makes 4 servings
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1 bunch green onions, white and some green stalk, sliced
1/4 cup water
1 sprig thyme
1 large or 2 small heads butter (Boston) lettuce
2 heads baby green leaf lettuce (or about 2 cups packed green leaf
lettuce)
1/3 cup shelled fresh sweet peas
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 tablespoon chopped chervil
Salt and pepper to taste
In large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Remove 2 tablespoons melted butter to a small dish for later. Add onion, water, thyme and lettuce to skillet and saute for 2 minutes. Add peas and continue to cook and stir for 3 minutes until peas are just tender. Add a few tablespoons water if skillet gets dry. Remove thyme. Place lettuce on serving plates and drizzle with reserved melted butter. Serve immediately. Sprinkle with chives and chervil and season with salt and pepper.
Note: This is a variation on a classic French dish that welcomes early spring produce, as interpreted by Alice Waters in "Chez Panisse Vegetables" (HarperCollins, $45.75)
- Per serving: 98 calories, 2 grams protein, 9 grams fat (percent calories from fat, 81), 4 grams carbohydrates, 23 milligrams cholesterol, 96 milligrams sodium.
SAINT AMOUR RESTAURANT'S FRISEE SALAD
Makes 5 servings
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Cooling time: 10 minutes
10 ounces frisee lettuce or 1 head (10 ounces) curly endive (chickory), in bite-size pieces
5 small tomatoes, cut in wedges
3 heads Belgian endive, leaves separated
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup toasted pecan halves (optional)
5 slices smoked bacon
3 slices bread, cubed
5 cups water
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped shallots
Salt and pepper to taste
Place lettuce on 5 serving plates and arrange decoratively with tomato wedges, endive, cucumber and pecans. (Can be made ahead, covered and refrigerated.)
In large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp. Remove to large plate and cool, reserving bacon grease. Add bread cubes to hot bacon grease; cook and stir until browned. Remove to plate with bacon to cool, about 10 min-utes.
Cut bacon into bite-size pieces and sprinkle on salads; sprinkle on bread cubes.
Add water to a 10-inch skillet over high heat. Add lemon juice, vinegar and salt. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low. Break eggs, one at a time, into a small custard cup, then slowly pour egg into simmering water. When all eggs are in, they should be covered with water; add more if needed. Poach eggs 5 to 10 minutes, depending on desired doneness. Lift eggs out with a slotted spoon and place one in center of each salad.
In small saucepan over medium heat, cook olive oil, vinegar and shallots until hot and bubbly. Ladle hot dressing over salads and serve. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Note: If you don't make this salad at home, there's always one with your name on it at the charming Midtown French restaurant that provided the recipe.
- Per serving: 521 calories, 15 grams protein, 45 grams fat (percent calories from fat, 78), 3 grams carbohydrates, 110 milligrams cholesterol, 120 milligrams sodium.
CURLY ENDIVE SALAD WITH GRANNY SMITH APPLE,
STILTON AND WARM BACON DRESSING
Makes 8 servings
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
1 head curly endive
1 large Granny Smith apple
4 strips bacon, not too salty
3 tablespoons (about) red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup crumbled Stilton (or other creamy blue cheese)
Trim the bottom off the endive, drain and rip leaves into 11/2-inch lengths. Place in microwave-safe salad bowl. Wash apple and stand up on cutting board. Cut 1/8-inch slices straight down off either side of the core. Julienne slices into matchsticks. Set aside.
Cut bacon strips into 1/2-inch lengths and fry until just crisp. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels, leaving bacon fat in pan. Add vinegar and sugar to cooking pan. (Taste; you may prefer a little more or less vinegar depending on the amount of bacon fat rendered.) Swirl to deglaze and pour contents over endive. Toss. Microwave for 45 seconds. Toss in Stilton cheese and bacon. Adjust seasoning if desired.
Note: This is a salad that you finish wilting in the microwave. If you can't get Stilton, use any blue-veined cheese.
- Per serving: 58 calories, 2 grams protein, 3 grams fat (percent calories from fat, 43), 7 grams carbohydrates, 5 milligrams cholesterol, 112 milligrams sodium.
CLASSIC AMERICAN WILTED LETTUCE
Makes 8 servings
Preparation time: 12 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
6 slices bacon
1/4 to 1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 large head leaf lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
6 green onions, thinly sliced with some tops
Salt and pepper to taste
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and finely chopped
In heavy skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp. Reserving drippings, remove bacon and drain on absorbent paper. Break into 1/2-inch pieces. Add vinegar and sugar to drippings. Stirring constantly, cook until bubbly hot.
In large serving bowl, place lettuce and onions. Pour hot vinegar mixture over vegetables. Add bacon pieces and toss lightly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle chopped egg over salad and serve immediately.
- Per serving: 79 calories, 15 grams protein, 45 grams fat (percent calories from fat, 78), 16 grams carbohydrates, 324 milligrams cholesterol, 404 milligrams sodium.
BRAISED BELGIAN ENDIVE
Makes 4 servings
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: about 1 hour
Serve this rich and intriguing side with a simple roast chicken.
1 1/2 pounds Belgian endive
Salt to taste
1 ounce raw ham such as prosciutto, cut into matchsticks
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Juice of 1/2 lemon
6 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
Butter a flameproof earthenware casserole or heavy saute pan of a size to just hold the endive. Arrange in the casserole in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt to taste and scatter the ham over them. Place the butter fragments on top of the endive. Cover tightly and place over very low heat to sweat, checking from time to time and turning, until very tender and colored on all sides, 50 to 60 minutes.
Add the lemon juice and turn the endive to coat evenly. Pour the cream over the endive, rotate the pan to swirl the contents gently and serve.
- Per serving: 146 calories, 4 grams protein, 12 grams fat (percent calories from fat, 75), 7 grams carbohydrates, 43 milligrams cholesterol, 153 milligrams sodium.
SALADE CUITE
Makes 4 servings
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
3 heads red leaf, green leaf, Boston or bibb lettuce washed, coarsely chopped and left damp
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large skillet, saute the onion and shallot in the oil or butter over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the lettuce and stir to bring volume down. Season to taste. Cover, leaving lid slightly ajar, and cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lettuce has gone thoroughly limp and released all its liquid. Remove the cover and raise heat to medium high. Cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid has evaporated.
You may add some country ham or a few fennel seeds for intrigue.
- Per serving: 48 calories, 1 gram protein, 4 grams fat (percent calories from fat, 67), 3 grams carbohydrates, no cholesterol, 8 milligrams sodium.
ESCAROLE AND EGG DROP SOUP
Makes 8 servings
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
1 1/2 to 2 quarts homemade chicken stock (or four 14-ounce cans)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs
1 small head escarole, trimmed, washed and coarsely chopped
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, to taste
Bring the stock to a boil over a medium-high heat. Season to taste. Remove from heat.
Whip the eggs in a bowl until frothy. Drizzle the whipped egg into the soup. Wait 30 seconds, then add the escarole and stir. Return to the heat and bring to a simmer. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Cook 2 to 3 minutes.
Serve in soup plates with grated cheese sprinkled over the top.
Note: This is a variation on the Italian egg drop soup called "straciatella" that includes wilted escarole. With a good homemade chicken stock it is simple and stunning, a recipe that takes 10 minutes to throw together but is elegant enough for company.
- Per serving: 43 calories, 3 grams protein, 2 grams fat (percent calories from fat, 51), 2 grams carbohydrates, 54 milligrams cholesterol, 51 milligrams sodium.