Lettuce is a precocious crop and it is often the first to appear on the table. According to the terms of consumer ripeness, salads are divided into spring, summer and autumn. Farmers breed mainly four types of salads: leafy, cabbage, romaine and asparagus.
Lettuce is one of the most popular green plants, which is especially appreciated in spring, when the diet lacks vitamins and minerals.
Salad is a delicious dietary vegetable and a mandatory component of the most exquisite dishes of European cuisine. It has a low calorie content and is rich in minerals and vitamins.
Lettuce leaves and heads are usually consumed fresh to prepare various salads mixed with other vegetable crops (cucumbers, tomatoes) or as an independent dish.
How to Mix Lettuce with other Ingredients?
Chopped fresh lettuce leaves are seasoned with vegetable oil, mustard, garlic or onion, salt, lemon juice, vinegar, finely chopped dill, parsley, celery, chervil are added to taste. The salad is also used to prepare the first dishes (soup-puree) boiled cabbage. Salad is also used in stewed and fried form. Lettuce leaves are eaten before the plant forms a stem, as they subsequently become bitter.
Seed (cultural) lettuce is cultivated mainly for nutrition. Latex (lactucarium) is obtained from the stems. The seeds contain good quality oil. For nutrition, young leaves of leafy varieties, heads (cabbage and romaine lettuce), thickened stem (asparagus salads) are used until the flower stem appears.
How to Use Lettuce in Cooking?
Lettuce leaves are an ideal component of simple and delicious vegetable salads, products for which do not require heat treatment. And they also make cute snacks in the form of tubes, rolls, slices, bags, envelopes.
Lettuce leaves remain one of the most interesting ingredients in cooking in general. Firstly, because of its appearance, brightness. Secondly, because of the benefits and taste. You can put any cold snacks, ready-made salads on them. And outwardly it will look more beautiful. They can also be added to any snacks and salads, thereby saturating the dish with vitamins and fiber.
How to Cook with Lettuce?
The simplest, fastest vitamin salad consists of: leaves, boiled eggs, green onions and mayonnaise. All this is chopped and mixed. It is served as a snack or as a spread on bread. It can be used as a filling for pita bread rolls. The combination of green salad leaves and red fish is very interesting, many advise to try it.
Salad with baked beans marinated in dark balsamic, with fresh carrots, seaweed and mussels. Lots of benefits and vitamins. I cooked it for dinner and served it with a salad with fried egg (without butter), the yolk remained sticky. Autumn is a new crop of vegetables, all the vitamins in them are still preserved. We eat and stock up on vitamins for the winter.
