This might be a bizarre-sounding tip for cooking vegetables, but it’s an old technique that can produce more flavourful and attractive veggies compared to other methods. Bake them within a head of lettuce.
According to chef Alex Atala, you can do this for any soft vegetable, such as asparagus and peas, as long as it doesn’t require too much water or a long cooking time (so, no potatoes in lettuce, unfortunately). This technique, from 19th-century French cookbook Cuisine Bourgeoise, avoids problems such as the vegetables losing water or flavour when you boil, bake or pan-fry.
Scoop out a hole in each half of a head of lettuce, put your vegetables in, wrap the two halves of lettuce together, and bake at 150C for 20 to 45 minutes. No more sad veggies!
Alex Atala’s Shortcut to Amazing Veggies Cooked in Iceberg Lettuce [The Huffington Post]
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