Saute'd Lettuce??

[*sweetomato*]

My mother tells me of something my German grandmother used to make, sounded like saute'd lettuce or maybe cabbage. My mother said she hated it , but I'm curious. Anyone know of this and have a recipe?

[Inge 1505]

sweetomato wrote:
My mother tells me of something my German grandmother used to make, sounded like saute'd lettuce or maybe cabbage. My mother said she hated it , but I'm curious. Anyone know of this and have a recipe?

If it is what I imagine, I have a recipe, but I never made it, because my mother hated it as well and never cooked it while I was a child.
It actually is sauteed lettuce. It was prepared when the lettuce from the garden started to sprout at the end of May and you had an overflow of it you could not possibly eat all as a salad.
So, not to waste it it was cooked. Here is a recipe from the beginning of the 19th century from the Badenian area, taken from: Scharfenberg, Horst: Aus Deutschlands Kuechen, Bern, 1980." Serves 4 as a side dish.

Kopfsalat frikassiert

4 firm lettuces
1-2 tbs butter
salt
white pepper
1/2 - 1 cup beef broth
2 egg yolks OR
1/2 t butter plus 1/2 t flour kneaded together with a fork (called flour butter)

Cut off hard outer lettuce leaves, wash lettuce hearts carefully and bind with twine to keep shape.
Cook over low heat in salted water until leaves start to turn limp. This takes only a few minutes.
Remove lettuce and put into cold water to cool.
Carefully squeeze water from lettuces, dry with towels if necessairy.
In a casserole just large enough melt butter over medium low heat. Put lettuces side by side in casserole, salt and pepper. Cover.
Turn when they are yellow on one side, salt and pepper. Cover and let turn yellow on the other side as well.
Only now add beef broth and simmer another 5 minutes.
Remove lettuce to a serving plate, thicken broth with egg yolks or flour butter, crumbling butter into boiling broth until desired consistency.
Pour sauce over lettuce.

So far the recipe. If you never thickened with egg yolk: Carefully mix 2 or 3 tbs hot broth with the egg in a small bowl and pour into broth stirring constantly. Don't let cook or egg will curdle. Heat stirring until thick.

I am sure there are a lot of different recipes, I actually have one more, but this seemed to be the nicest.

Cooked lettuce is rather bitter. I cook it together with fresh green peas, it balances the sweetness in a nice way, but it surely lookes ugly. I do it like in Braised Lettuce with Peas and Lemon . I substitute thyme with 2 tbs fresh parsley.

Also look at the Wilted Lettuce Recipes for another good lettuce idea.

[txzuckerbaeckerin]

Just wanted to let You know, that the lettuce, that is most often used in Germany is butter lettuce or as some refer to it as green boston lettuce.
It has very large, rather soft green leaves and one normally cuts out the firm middle vein. A different version of the sauteed lettuce is to rip big leaves in to bite size pieces and toss them into a pan with already bround small bacon dices. Put on a lid and swoosh them around. Not too long, as they will get soggy!. Great with softboiled potatos and breaded porkchops.

[out of here]

Could be this as I had 2 German Grandmothers.
WILTED LETTUCE recipe #118008