serves
4
prep
20 minutes
cook
20 minutes
difficulty
Easy
serves
4
people
preparation
20
minutes
cooking
20
minutes
difficulty
Easy
level
Ingredients
- 80 g Italian speck, chopped into matchstick-size batons
- 4 medium eschalots, finely sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
- 30 g butter
- 3 baby gem (see Cook’s tip), cut into ¼ lengthways
- 200 ml chicken stock
- 150 g fresh peas, podded and blanched
- 50 g crème fraiche
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- splash of oil
- river salt and black pepper
Instructions
You will need a pan or shallow pot wide enough to hold the baby gems in one layer. Place it on a low heat with a splash of oil and the speck. As the pan heats the speck will warm through and the fat will render off. Once it starts to sizzle add in the eschalots, a little seasoning and continue stirring for another 2 minutes. Add the garlic and keep stirring.
Once everything has softened, throw in the butter followed by the baby gems. Place them in on one of the cut sides and turn the heat up to high with the aim to get a little colour. Once you have colour on one of the cut sides, repeat with the other cut side.
Once you are satisfied with the colour, turn the lettuces over so they are laying on their backs, add in the chicken stock and reduce the heat to low, spooning some of the stock over the baby gems every now and again. Let this all simmer for 5 minutes at which stage your lettuce should be nicely softened.
Add in the peas and give them a minute or so to mingle and warm and have a taste for seasoning.
To serve, gently scoop out the baby gem pieces and lay them on a plate. Add the crème fraiche to the pea mixture left in the pot and give it a good stir to combine. Take it off the heat, add in the parsley and then spoon all of this mix over the lettuce. Finish with a generous drizzle of oil and a good turn of black pepper.
Cook’s tip
• Baby gem is almost like a small cos lettuce, but with much firmer and denser heads. Cos can be substituted however the cooking time will be far less. And it is more than acceptable to use frozen peas in this recipe.
Photography by Benito Martin. Styling by Lynsey Fryers. Food preparation by Suresh Watson.
Aki salad servers from Country Road. Large Piazza platter from Papaya.
For a taste of O Tama Carey’s cooking, visit her at Berta restaurant in Sydney. Like Berta on Facebook, and follow the restaurant on Twitter and Instagram.
Read our interview with Tama. This recipe is from our online column, The Seasonal Cook: lettuce. View previous The Seasonal Cook columns and recipes.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
