Lettuce give thanks

Sometime around March of every year — when we’re still getting snow and ice but tender little bits of green are starting to poke up from the half-frozen earth — I start having dire, desperate cravings for fresh salad greens. And the pale, tasteless stuff offered by our local supermarkets just doesn’t cut it.

We’ve long been members of a local CSA (the wonderful Sippel Family Farm — we love you guys!!!), so we are completely spoiled by their same-day, fresh-from-the-earth greens. Before the long, cold winter is over, I’m literally climbing the walls with yearning for some of the good stuff. I make giant serving bowls of salad and eat the whole thing myself for lunch, toss greens with grits for breakfast, and sometimes just snack on handfuls of yummy little baby arugula leaves. Ahhhh, bliss.

Of course, once the season starts, we are inundated with lettuce, spinach, baby greens, kale, chard, escarole, and every other type of green imaginable. After about a month of mountains of leafy green bounty, I get to a point where I just don’t want another salad.

I’m terribly fickle that way.

And that’s when I know it’s time to bust out some lettuce wraps.

Yes, they’re messy, but they’re tasty, really easy and fast to make, and the kids love them. And if you have trouble getting your kids to eat leafy greens, this is a good way to get some into their diets; just consider whole lettuce leaves as crisp green tortillas.

The seasonings in this recipe are very mild. If your family has a more adventurous palate, toss in some minced fresh ginger (about a tablespoon) and/or some red pepper flakes at the same time as the stir-fry sauce. It’ll kick it up nicely.

Do all your chopping before you start cooking, because the cooking goes very quickly and if you’re still at the chopping board, everything is likely to get overcooked and soggy. I usually buy a bag of matchstick carrots just to save chopping time, but if you’re a master with a knife (or just really enjoy prep work), go for it!

————

Asian-style lettuce wraps

3 T soy sauce
1 T seasoned rice vinegar
2 T brown sugar
1 T peanut oil
1 8-oz. package tempeh, crumbled
1 5-oz. can water chestnuts, diced
2 c. mushrooms, diced
1/2 med. onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 c. matchstick carrots
1 c. fresh mung bean sprouts
2 scallions, sliced
8-10 whole lettuce leaves (butter lettuce works really well, but any kind of leaf lettuce will do)
Hoisin sauce for serving

Make stir-fry sauce by stirring together the soy sauce, brown sugar and rice vinegar. Set aside.

Heat peanut oil in a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add tempeh, water chestnuts, onions, garlic and mushrooms to wok; stir fry 3-4 minutes, until onions are softened and mushrooms have released their liquid.

Add the stir fry sauce to the wok and toss to coat. Add carrots and mung bean sprouts; cook 1-2 minutes, until veggies are tender-crisp and most liquid has evaporated. Stir in scallions and remove from heat. Pour mixture into a serving bowl.

To serve, spoon a couple tablespoons of the mixture into a lettuce leaf (leave enough room so you can fold up the lettuce leaf like a tortilla); top with a little hoisin saucce before folding, if desired.

Serves 4.