Seasonal local food recipe No.191 – Hugh’s braised new potatoes and lettuce
Yes – you can cook lettuce, provided the leaves are firm, crisp ones. There are cos/romaine lettuce leaves in Camel CSA’s mixed salad bags in this week’s boxes.
This is a side dish from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in the Guardian. Hugh says: “It’s based on the delicious petits pois à la française, only it’s more petites pommes de terre. A little later in the season, you could throw in a handful of baby peas near the end of cooking.”
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
25g butter
A trickle of olive or rapeseed oil
1 onion, peeled, quartered and sliced
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
350g new potatoes, cleaned and cut into 2-3cm pieces
About 400ml hot chicken stock
½ large head of romaine or 2 little gem lettuces, shredded
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion, let it sweat for about 10 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for two minutes more. Add the potatoes and about 250ml of stock, bring to a simmer and cook, half-covered, for around 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the spuds are tender. Add a little more stock if you need to, but the idea is to end up with reasonably well-reduced juices, so don’t go mad.
Add the shredded lettuce and a little more stock, stir, cover and cook for four to five minutes, until the lettuce is wilted. Season to taste and serve.
