Friday Food Files With Molly Watson: Mâche.
My weakness for mâche is legendary – at least in my own mind. The soft green clumps of ‘lamb’s lettuce’, as mâche is also known, make a perfect spring salad.
Look for dark green, completely unspoiled leaves – once mâche starts to go, it goes quickly. The leaves come in little groupings, held together by shallow delicate roots that are perfectly edible. Mâche grows well in sandy soil, and it requires a good washing before being used. Put mâche in a large bowl of cool water and swish it around. Lift the leaves out of the water (don’t pour the dirty water back over the now-clean leaves!) and dry in a salad spinner or by gently rolling the damp leaves in several layers of paper towels. (See complete step-by-step photographed guide to how to wash lettuce.)
I like a classic lemon vinaigrette on mâche, but recently made an ultra-simple dressing using 3 tablespoons olive oil crushed with lemon (the one from Lucerno is delicious) and 1 tablespoon sauvignon blanc agrodulce (a sort of slightly sweet vinegar from Katz) with a bit of salt to taste. It was a salad-dressing marriage like none I’ve ever eaten before. Super simple. Super springy. Super delicious.
Find other lettuce varieties to create your own spring salad.
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Each week, the Friday Food Files are deliciously brought to you by Molly Watson. For more on Molly and her delicious recipes, you can visit her in one of many wonderful places:
Writer: mollywatsonwrites.com
Blogger: thedinnerfiles.com
Recipe Wizard: localfoods.about.com
Radio Girl: eatthatradio.wordpress.com
tweeter: twitter.com/mollywatson
teacher: mediabistro.com/courses/cache/instr404.as
[ Photos courtesy of Molly Watson and Siniša Jagarinec.]
have you announced the winner of the good reads: camilla engman giveaway?
I was lucky comment number 85 :)
not yet – monday. :)
mache = yummy!
i was ALWAYS told that uncleaned and unwrapped greens last longer than cleaned and wrapped ones?! were my mother, my grandmother etc. (generations!) wrong?
gorgeous salad. i simply love this combo!
How funny! I was just reading salad recipes from “Wine Country Cooking” by Joanne Weir and had to look up mâche yesterday because I can’t recall ever using it in my salads. You are totally right about using these greens right away. They should be purchased with intent to eat – tout de suite! :)
Here is a link to Joanne Weir’s salad page: http://www.joanneweir.com/recipes/salads/index.html for even more salad ideas!
ok keepin my fingers crossed
Simple salads are my favorite spring eats! Mâche is such a yummy lettuce, and I can’t wait to make it with the sauvignon blanc-infused salad dressing.
My current favourite is a bowl of mache with a chopped up sun dried tomato and a couple spoonfuls of an oil + balsamic dressing. Yum! We’re having some tonight in fact.
{dressing: 1/2 cup olive oil + 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar – I put it in a small jar and shake it up then keep what’s left in the fridge}