Warm little gem salad with ranch dressing
Prep
25 mins
Cook
15 mins
Servings
4
Difficulty
Medium
There's something rather lovely about serving salad warm, don't you think? This little gem situation is one of my go to dishes when I want something that feels both special and completely unfussy. The lettuce gets gently wilted in butter and stock, which brings out its natural sweetness, then it's topped with a homemade ranch dressing that's honestly so much better than anything bottled. Little gem is wonderfully nutrient dense too, packed with folate and antioxidants. The whole thing comes together in under forty minutes, and most of that is just letting things bubble away while you make the dressing. It's the kind of dish that looks far more impressive than the effort required.
Ella x
Ingredients
- 4little gem lettuce(little gem lettuces, ends trimmed, cut in ½ lengthways)
- 2 tbspextra virgin olive oil
- 50 gramsunsalted butter
- 2 clove/sgarlic(crushed)
- 300 mlschicken stock
- 3 sprig/sthyme
- 1 pinch/eschilli flakes
- ½lemon(juice)
- 100 gramscroutons
- 2british blacktail medium free range eggs(egg yolks)
- 1 clove/sgarlic(crushed)
- 1 tspmustard powder
- ½lemon(juice)
- 180 mlsextra virgin olive oil
- 20 gramstarragon(leaves finely chopped)
- 25 gramsflat leaf parsley(leaves finely chopped)
- 1 tbspcreme fraiche
Detail level
Instructions
- 1
For the dressing, put the egg yolks in a food processor with the garlic, mustard powder, the juice of ½ a lemon and a pinch of salt. Turn on the processor, then pour in the oil in a very slow, steady trickle until combined. Spoon into a bowl, then stir in the herbs and crème fraîche. Season, adding more lemon juice if needed. Cover and set aside in the fridge.
- 2
In a large bowl, toss the little gem halves in the oil and season. Gently heat a lidded heavy-based pan, then add the butter. Arrange the lettuce halves in the pan, cut-side down, and fry over a medium-high heat until golden (4-6 minutes). Reduce the heat to medium, add the garlic and cook for a further 1 minute. Pour in the stock, thyme and chilli flakes, cover with a lid (or baking tray) and simmer for 2 minutes. Uncover, add the lemon juice, then simmer to reduce the stock until almost completely evaporated (about 5 minutes). Transfer the braised lettuce to a serving dish, spoon over the reduced stock, scatter over the croutons and dollop with the ranch dressing.
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