That Green Olive: Charred smokey iceberg lettuce

Charred iceberg lettuce with smokey sunflower seed cream and spiced garlic oil. Photo / Olivia Moore - That Green Olive

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, and that’s 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 and sundried tomato oil, and some thinly sliced radish for a nice kick.

My dad, who doesn’t do vegetables, was inevitably sceptical upon seeing this dish - 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.

Visit Olivia’s website for more recipes: www.thatgreenolive.com.

Charred Iceberg Lettuce with Smokey Sunflower Seed Cream and Spiced Garlic Oil

Serves 4-6 as a side

● 2 small heads of iceberg lettuce, cut in half vertically and each half cut into three

● 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 ½ cups sunflower seeds

● 2 Tbsp lemon juice

● 1 ½ tsp salt

Spiced Garlic Oil

● 2 sundried tomato halves

● 2 Tbsp olive oil

● 2 tsp lemon juice

● 1 clove garlic, finely chopped

● ½ tsp maple syrup

● ¼ tsp ground cumin

● ¼ tsp salt

Method

1. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add ginger and garlic and cook for two minutes until starting to brown, then add sunflower seeds and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until seeds are nicely brown in places.

2. Add to a blender along with lemon juice, salt and 1 ½ cups of water. Blend until smooth - add more water to a consistency. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate while you cook the lettuce.

3. 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 two to three minutes until a nice char develops, then gently turn to cook the other side. Cook for another two to three minutes until charred. You may need to cook the lettuce in two batches to avoid overcrowding. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

4. To make the spiced garlic oil, mix everything, along with a generous season of oil, in a small jug.

5. To assemble, spread the sunflower seed cream on 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.