# Grilling lettuces



## lyndalou (Jun 5, 2005)

Has anyone tried this? The other day, Giada grilled some radicchio, endive and romaine  and I thought it would be interesting to try. If you've done this, I'd like to know how you liked it.
Thanks


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## jkath (Jun 5, 2005)

I haven't, Lindalou but I'm sure many have, so I'm bumping it up....






I want to make sure this is seen!


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## ironchef (Jun 5, 2005)

Just make sure you don't do it over the hottest part of the grill or else you'll char the he11 out of it. Also, don't over-drench it in olive oil (a la Emerill) or it'll flare up and overly char the suface of the lettuce. You could just peel of the outer, burnt layer but that would defeat the purpose of grilling it. If you have a gas grill it's much easier since you can adjust the heat. Be sure to leave some the core on when you half or quarter it so that the lettuce holds together. A good technique is to use one or two scallions and tie the lettuce leaves together to make a tight bundle. That will make it easier to grill and makes a nicer presentation. Grilled lettuces can be good if done right and make a nice accompaniment to a meal.


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## Heat (Jun 5, 2005)

I never thought of Grilling Any type of Lettuce! Wow!! Now, im gonna have to try it!! Thanks  bunches!!


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## kyles (Jun 5, 2005)

If I haven't said it on another post (and I think I only thunk it) I am soooooooooo pleased you are back IronChef, you always know such cool stuff about techniques and things. I have missed you!!!!

I for one have never thought about grilling lettuce, we don't get cool lettuce here much, just boring old iceberg and loose interesting leaves, not whole ones with cores.....ah England. And now Ishbel is going to come along and tell me that in her part of Bonnie Scotland they get fab lettuce all the time


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## buckytom (Jun 5, 2005)

i've tried grilling just about everything i can get my grubby fingers on, and i've tried a few lettuces. like iron chef says, watch out for a too hot grill. i tried it over hot charcoals, and just burnt the crap out of everything. 

but i tried again, this time with small romaine heads, carefully opened and spritzed with an olive oily viniagrette, then tied up with twine and cooked them over low temp coals. they sort of steamed, while picking up a nice grill/smoke flavor.
ive also tried large swiss chard leaves, which the leafy part burned up and disintegrated, but the thicker stems came out pretty good. not very nice looking, but were tasty chopped in a salad.


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## lyndalou (Jun 6, 2005)

Thanks, everyone. I think I'll give it a go this coming weekend.


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## jennyema (Jun 6, 2005)

I've grilled raddicio.  Ithas an assertive flavor that stands up to grilling.


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## ironchef (Jun 6, 2005)

One thing I forgot to add was to quickly blanch the scallions in salted water and shock them in ice water before you use them to tie up the lettuces/greens. Also, make sure you pat them dry very well with paper towels before you use them. This will help in three ways:

*1*. The scallions will keep a more vibrant green color which will give off a nice presentation

*2*. Some of the harsh, bitter flavor of the scallion will be taken away to make them more enjoyable to eat

*3*. They will be more pliable and will be easier to tie


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## mitch_the_chef (Jun 6, 2005)

*hmmm.....good idea*

At first when i saw this I immediately thought of that harveys commercial about fire grilled salads. But now im almost sure it'll work because of all the people who have tried it. I will try this one day, but for now and always i have to buy a grill .


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## kitchenelf (Jun 6, 2005)

We grill romaine quite a bit.  I cut the heads in 1/4's leaving the root end in tact to hold it together.  Depending on how big the heads are and what else you are eating you could just cut in half if you wanted to.

I take a plate and drizzle it with olive oil and roll the lettuce in it, add koser salt and cracked pepper and grill.  For the romaine grilling gives it a nice nutty flavor - one moment past nutty and it has a nasty burned flavor!!! lol  Just look for the some grill marks to be present otherwise you will just have "lettuce".

I also made a mixture of olive oil, cumin, salt, pepper, lime juice, maybe some other things too but this is all I can think of right now and used it to marinate some veggies before grilling and also used to roll the romaine in.


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## lyndalou (Jun 7, 2005)

Elf,
Do you grill it over medium heat directly or indiectly ?


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