This recipe was created by Kali Hamm, a veg scheme member and plant-powered chef. Follow her on Instagram for her latest recipes, news and events.
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This grilled lettuce dish will change your attitude to both lettuce and salads. It’s proof that lettuce doesn’t have to be boring.
Grilling lettuce shows a different side to this crunchy leaf, it’s warm, charred, smoky and melts into the tahini sauce. The seeds add nice crunch & fruits a pop of fresh! You don’t have to have both pomegranate & grapefruit, you could also switch them out for nectarine or peach.
This would be lovely as a side or cook up some grains, potatoes or grill some bread to serve along side and make this more of a meal.
Serves 8 as a side
8 baby gem or 4 larger cos lettuce
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 grapefruit, segmented
seeds of half pomegranate
100g mixed seeds
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
100g Nutgrove’s edale ‘cheese’ – optional
salt & pepper
olive oil to drizzle
Tahini sauce
150g tahini
75ml olive oil
150ml water
Juice 1 lemon
1 clove garlic
big pinch salt
1) Firstly, prepare your ingredients. To make your tahini dressing. Add all the ingredients to a high speed blender and blitz until smooth. You could also do this by hand with a bowl and a whisk. Simply grate the garlic in and whisk the rest of ingredients together.
2) Prepare the fruit. To segment the grapefruit, use a sharp knife to slice off the skin, then with the knife, carefully remove each segment. For the pomegranate, cut and using your finger remove the seeds. – Some people recommend using a wooden spoon to hit the pomegranate to get the seeds out. For the home cook, I think this is too messy and one pomegranate doesn’t take too long.
3) To toast your seeds, heat a small fry pan, add the seeds, toast for a couple of minutes, add the oil and tamari, and stir to make sure everything is coated. Toast for a further few of minutes until browned, mixing to make sure the seeds are evenly toasted, remove from heat and place in a bowl until ready to use.
4) Grill the lettuce. On a hot bbq or in a grill pan on high heat - heat the pan for a few minutes until smoking. While heating, half the baby gem or cos, rinse, and place in the bowl to coat with the melted coconut oil. Once this is done, and the grill or pan is hot, grill the lettuce in a single layer; place cut side down onto the pan, grill for a 3-4 minutes, dont be tempted to touch or move the lettuce around. When it’s ready flip and grill for another minute. Carefully remove and set aside, repeat the process with remaining lettuce. Remove from the pan and sesaon with salt and pepper.
5) To plate spoon the tahini dressing onto a large serving dish, or 4 individual plates. Divide the lettuce between the plates. Sprinkle with pomegrate seeds, toasted seeds and pieces of grapefruit, if you like, a little crumble of soft white ‘cheese’ and drizzle of oil.
