Grilled Lettuce (Wait... What?)

We're at the Great Falls Farmer's Market again this season after a few years off. We did the market our first two years, but then kids arrived and we took a little break, focusing on selling our food through our farm shares (CSA) and wholesale to our favorite places (Mountain Front Market in Choteau, 2J's Fresh Market in Great Falls, Daisy's Deli in Great Falls and soon, Wines by Wednesday in Great Falls.)

While all that (CSA and wholesale) continues to grow, we still decided to do the market this year, mostly in an effort to support the food community in Great Falls and meet more people who might be interested in what we do and grow.

So, far, it's been slow, though. I'm trying not to feel desperate about it. My hope is that it picks up as people get to know us again. It's still early. We have a nice display (if I do say so myself), and we're trying to put all sorts of tips we've heard and found to use. So, it will pick up. I know it will.

But for now, I'm bringing home a fair bit of produce after each market. This week, I brought home more lettuce than I would like to.

We won't sell that lettuce wholesale after it's been in cooler for four hours and we won't give our CSA members anything but the freshest picked produce either.

So, that leaves it up to us to eat everything we bring home.

Kale and chard and other veggies I can freeze for winter. Or, make smoothies or make kale chips (which is how we powered through 6 bunches of kale in one day this week) or soups for the freezer.

But lettuce. You can only eat so many salads, you know?

So, I've been doing a riduculous amount of research on non-salad uses of lettuce. As it turns out, there's lots of things you can do with lettuce that don't involve chopping it up and slathering it with ranch dressing. (Who knew? Certainly not me.)

This one, so far has been my favorite.

Grilled Lettuce

Most recipes on the web call for only romaine hearts, but we thought grilled Black Seeded Simpson lettuce was DELICIOUS. The thing about the lettuce we grow is that it actually tastes good. It actually has flavor and texture -- not that lifeless stuff that's been on a truck for the last week. The charring just makes our lettuce even better, bringing out those unique flavors and characteristics.

Here's what you'll need:

1 huge head of Black Seeded Simpson (or romaine) lettuce
1 Tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper

Here's what you'll do:

1. Preheat your grill to medium high heat.
2. Trim off most of the leafy part of the lettuce head and throw that in a salad spinner to wash up and use later for a salad (dang! there's still a salad involved!) or sandwhiches or wraps or whatever.
3. Cut the head down the center of the stalk. (Here's where this gets awesome. Normally, we don't use the stalk -- especially as the season progresses and that stalk gets thicker and longer. Why don't we use it? Because it's thick and doesn't quite fit in a salad. But, grilled! Oh my!)
4. Submerge both sides into cold water for a few seconds to get it cleaned in all its crevasses.
5. Pat dry and let drain a little on a platter.
6. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a generous amount of course salt and pepper (a little minced garlic too if you're into that.)
7. Place on the hot grill and grill for 5 minutes or so a piece -- until the stalk is tender and the leaves are bit charred and crispy.
8. Top with Parmesan cheese or a creamy dressing and eat with a knife and fork, like a big beautiful green steak.

Other ideas for lettuce: 

Lettuce wraps, including tacos! (We love this awesome lentil taco filling with our black lentils.)
Lettuce soup
Lettuce smoothies