I keep iceberg lettuce in the refrigerator all the time. I use it often to make salads, but I also use the leaves in place of bread for a quick wrap at lunch time. I suppose we are all trying to watch the calories and carbs these days and iceberg lettuce, used to make a wrap in place of bread, saves a good many calories and carbs. I find a leaf is quite delicious with a little chicken or tuna salad placed on top and enjoyed for the midday break.
The first thing I do when I unwrap the lettuce from the grocery store is to remove the outer leaves. They are usually bruised from handling on the way to the market, so just dispose of them.
As you can see above, this was how this head of lettuce looked when I removed it from the wrap. Not pretty. You do not want that as part of your salad or lunch time wrap.
To prepare our head of lettuce for storage in the refrigerator, we are going to remove the core. Very simple to do.
Simply turn the head of lettuce over so that the core is facing downward and give it a couple substantial blows on a clean countertop or a cutting board. This will release the core from the head of lettuce.
Once you have done that, you can simply remove the core by hand and toss it.
Here is our head of iceberg with the core removed.
Thumbs in the cavity where the core was, and just pull the the head apart into two halves.
I store my lettuce in a large, flat, glass storage container. But before I place it inside the container, I put in a couple folded paper towels. This will help absorb any moisture that forms inside the container and will help to prolong the life of the lettuce.
Into the container with the lettuce, atop the folded paper towels.
And into the refrigerator. Iceberg lettuce will generally last for 7 - 10 days in the refrigerator, but I have found, by using this method of storage, it will last up to two weeks. You may get a little "browning" on some of the outer leaves, but you can toss them and continue to use the rest of the lettuce.
When time comes to enjoy your freshly stored lettuce, simply remove a few leaves from the container and you are ready to prepare a quick and healthy lunch or snack platter.
Here we have a tray of lettuce leaves with a mix of rotisserie chicken salad and dill tuna salad atop several lettuce leaves. You can just pick these up very easily with your hands and enjoy. No need to fuss with folding over the leaves and securing them in bundles with cocktail picks, unless you want to do that. I find this open-face presentation much more visually appealing. Just a little salad on top of the lettuce leaves and lunch is served. If you wanted to serve these on a lunch buffet, they would be perfect. Give your guests the choice of helping themselves and they could be eaten with fork and knife or served less formally on the patio and just picked up by hand. However you decide to serve them, I can assure you they will be enjoyed by all.
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