I had a head of lettuce in the refrigerator that needed to be used. A few of the leaves had been removed for sandwiches, but we needed to come up with an idea for how to use the rest of it. So I decided to shred it for lunch salads.
There was still plenty of good, fresh lettuce here. I did not want to waste it, so I decided to shred it for salads.
If you have a lettuce knife, of course that will work perfectly for this job. But if you do not, a sharp ceramic blade knife will work just as well. Using a plastic lettuce knife or a ceramic knife as I did, helps to keep the lettuce from turning brown as it would if sliced or chopped with a traditional stainless steel blade.
First things first - remove the stump. I should have put this in a pot of soil and regrown a new head of lettuce, but I did not think to do that at the time. Next time for sure.
I turned the head of lettuce over so the stump side was down and cut across in about three quarter inch slices.
Then, using just my clean hands, I separate the shreds into a mound of shredded lettuce.
Into a quart size Ziploc bag with the lettuce. Be sure to extract as much of the air as possible before sealing the bag.
Finally, into the refrigerator crisper drawer to wait until time to prepare salads.
There was still plenty of good, fresh lettuce here. I did not want to waste it, so I decided to shred it for salads.
If you have a lettuce knife, of course that will work perfectly for this job. But if you do not, a sharp ceramic blade knife will work just as well. Using a plastic lettuce knife or a ceramic knife as I did, helps to keep the lettuce from turning brown as it would if sliced or chopped with a traditional stainless steel blade.
First things first - remove the stump. I should have put this in a pot of soil and regrown a new head of lettuce, but I did not think to do that at the time. Next time for sure.
Here, our head of lettuce with the stump removed and ready to be chopped.
I turned the head of lettuce over so the stump side was down and cut across in about three quarter inch slices.
Then, using just my clean hands, I separate the shreds into a mound of shredded lettuce.
Into a quart size Ziploc bag with the lettuce. Be sure to extract as much of the air as possible before sealing the bag.
Finally, into the refrigerator crisper drawer to wait until time to prepare salads.
I like to prepare these simple chicken salads ahead of time and keep them refrigerated. I simply filled the salad container with a healthy handful of lettuce. Then I added one oven-baked chicken breast, thinly sliced. A sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan cheese and you have a delicious and nutritious - and filling - lunch. You could add any number of things to your salad, but I find these simple chicken salads to be the most scrumptious of all served with an Italian viniagrette.
