The loveFOOD guide to... salad leaves
Green and good for you, give your salad bowl a pep up by trying a selection of these luscious leaves.
Watercress
Grown in the chalky streams of the south, the train line that used to bring watercress to London from Hampshire and Dorset was known as 'the watercress line' and part of it still runs today as a heritage railway. Eat watercress as fresh as possible so the strong peppery bite isn’t diminished. See what happened when we met a 'doctor of watercress'
Valentine Warner's duck a l'orange with watercress recipe
Little gem/romaine lettuce
Romaine lettuce will last the longest of all the salad leaves in your fridge – it’s still firm and fresh when others have been reduced to green stinky mush. Little gems are just young romaine; their small size makes them great for using in burgers. You can also braise it.
Heston Blumenthal's ultimate cheeseburgers with little gem recipe
Iceberg
Bland and boring enough to put an entire generation off salad. For many years this seemed to be the only salad leaf available. Of course the pendulum of fashion swings both ways, and so now iceberg lettuce is experiencing something of a retro revival. Its firm structure makes it an ideal cup for holding other flavours, and it’s even been used to replace the bun in burgers.
Gordon Ramsay's stir-fried duck in lettuce cups recipe
Rocket
Known as 'the Soho weed' in the 1990s because it came on, in, or to the side of everything. Loved the world over for its peppery bite, it’s known in America as 'arugula' and France as 'roquette'. Rocket has been grown around the Mediterranean since ancient times.
Fennel, rocket and pear salad recipe
Round lettuce
A broad-leafed lettuce with a dark green colour, this is the traditional British lettuce. Has a bit more flavour than iceberg. Look out for Webb’s Wonderful version.
Braised duck with peas and round lettuce recipe
Spinach
The leaf much beloved of Popeye the sailor man, huge bags of it are needed to wilt down to something useable, so buy a lot. It has many uses in the kitchen, and turns up a lot in Indian cooking, with Saag aloo perhaps the best known example. You can also bake with it as the below muffin recipe shows.
Spinach and nutmeg muffins recipe
Frisee lettuce
Sometimes called endive, this leaf is a member of the chicory family and has the familiar bitter bite. It pairs well with other sharp flavours like anchovy and caper, or you can quieten it down with a cream or cheese dressing.
James Martin's sesame tiger prawns with frisee recipe
More salad stories
How to grow your own lettuce and salad leaves
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