garden lettuce basics

We had our first harvest yesterday! Our garden is doing quite well, and we were able to get five heads of lettuce, 2 sweet peppers, herbs, and 3 squash blossoms. We were pretty excited.


In case you don't know me well, I'm very particular. So of course I'm no different when it comes to my food. I thoroughly wash any lettuce or greens that come into my kitchen, I've got it down to a standard routine.

Start by placing all of the greens in a large bowl. Fill the bowl with cold water, and swish the lettuce around a bit to get the dirt off.



Let the lettuce sit in the water for a few minutes, and then pull the lettuce up from the water. Dump out all of the dirty water and begin again. Fill the bowl with lettuce and then cold water. Swish, let sit for a few minutes. And again, pull the lettuce out of the water.


I usually put the cleaned lettuce in a colander at this point to get the excess water off. Then, lay a few clean dish towels on your counter and place lettuce on them.


Allow the lettuce to dry for a few minutes more...and then pat the tops dry with another clean towel.

There! Now the lettuce is ready to eat.

Most often we make a simple salad the way I used to eat it as a kid. My brother and I called it the garlic salad, and we could not get enough.

Basic Garlic Salad

You'll need:

large bunch of lettuce, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
olive oil
vinegar
salt

In a large bowl place all of your lettuce. Add the minced garlic on top. Drizzle over some olive oil and a very small amount of vinegar (maybe 1 tablespoon). Season liberally with salt. Toss well, and serve.

The salad will be very zesty and garlic-y! It's addictive. Since we have fresh herbs from our garden right now, I also added some chopped parsley and basil. Delicious!