Frozen Lettuce

I had a lot of e-mails yesterday about what on earth the Frozen Lettuce was all about, so I decided to move it up in my posting schedule and tell you about it right away. It comes from Maraharu Morimoto's (the Japanese Iron Chef!) book "The Art of New Japanese Cooking" and while the flavors are definitely not far out, and fairly close to those of a Caesar Salad, the textures are wildly different. The lettuce is indeed frozen, and it melts in your mouth.

Really - do try this! Even if you don't make your own dressing - try it anyway! It's really fun! And tasty, but I don't need to tell you that.

The original recipe includes anchovy paste and white miso as well but I omitted those as my supermarket didn't have the first, and only had huge packs of the latter. There are other small changes as well, so if you want the original recipe - buy the book. (It's brilliant!)

I am going to try this again, but probably try to make the dressing a little bit lighter, possibly yogurtbased.


Frozen Lettuce
8 small servings

1 large head of iceberg lettuce

3 small cloves of garlic
4 tbsp (1/4 cup) vegetable oil (I use rapeseed)
1 egg yolk
8 tbsp (1/2 cup) mayonnaise
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 tbsp Worcestershiresauce
1 tbsp shallots
1 tbsp parmesan, grated
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
zest of a lemon

salt
black pepper
chèvre (goat's cheese), crumbled
tiny croutons (If you don't fancy making your own, buy ready-made crostini and break into small pieces. Put in a sieve to get rid of any "dust".)

Cut the lettuce into eight wedges and place in a tight-lidded container. Freeze for 1-2 hours before serving.

Blanch the garlic cloves in boiling water for three minutes. Combine them with all the other ingredients for the dressing (except salt and pepper) in a small food processor or with a handheld blender. (Or whisk by hand, but then you must finely mince the garlic and shallot.) Season with salt and pepper. This can be prepared in advance, just put it in the fridge for a while.

To serve, pour the dressing on top of the lettuce, and top with crumbled goat's cheese and a small handful of croutons.

Recipe in Swedish:
Frusen sallad