Honestly, this might be one of my favourite side dishes to date!
Charring is probably my favourite way of preparing greens – cabbage, broccoli and, yes, lettuce. I love throwing it on the barbecue to char; in this recipe I char it in a skillet. Make sure your skillet is very hot so that the edges actually char – otherwise you’ll end up with soggy braised lettuce (not what we’re after here!).
It’s served on a bed of incredibly smokey, flavourful sunflower seed cream – a rich and creamy puree of toasted sunflower seeds, ginger, garlic and lemon. And to top it all off, a beautiful spiced garlic & sundried tomato oil, and some thinly sliced radish for a nice kick.
My dad (who doesn’t do vegetables), upon seeing this dish, was inevitably sceptical – one, because it’s lettuce, and two, because that lettuce is cooked. But while eating, he soon admitted that it was actually pretty good, and proceeded to polish off his entire portion and scoop up whatever sunflower seed cream was left on the serving dish.
And rightly so – this combination of flavours and crunchy, creamy textures is delicious. The fact that he enjoyed a lettuce dish really says something about this recipe – now go make it yourself and see!
Charred Iceberg with Smokey Sunflower Seed Cream and Spiced Garlic Oil
4-6
servings, as a side30
minutesIngredients
2 small heads iceberg lettuce, cut in half vertically and each half cut into 3
1 radish (30g), thinly sliced
- Smokey Sunflower Seed Cream
1 tbsp olive oil
15g fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups sunflower seeds
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp salt
- Spiced Garlic Oil
2 sundried tomato halves
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
Directions
- Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add ginger and garlic and cook for 2 minutes until starting to brown, then add sunflower seeds and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until seeds are nicely brown in places.
- Add to a blender along with lemon juice, salt and 1 1/2 cups water. Blend until smooth add more water to a consistency. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate while you cook the lettuce.
- Clean out your frying pan and set over a high heat with a small drizzle of oil. When hot, add iceberg wedges cut-side down. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until a nice char develops, then gently turn to cook the other cut-side. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until charred. You may need to cook the lettuce in 2 batches to avoid overcrowding. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- To make the spiced garlic oil mix everything, along with a generous season of oil, in a small jug.
- To assemble, spread the sunflower seed cream in a large serving platter. Arrange the charred iceberg wedges over the top, followed by sliced radish. Drizzle over the spiced garlic oil and serve chilled or at room temperature.