Caesar Salad

We are a bit crazy about lettuce at The Lettuce Shop, one might think we're famous for it. This week we have noticed that cos and festival lettuce are both looking fantastic, so we thought we'd bring this fabulous recipe to your attention. 

Caesar salad is famous for its lettuce, cos lettuce makes this dish (as well as the creamy Caesar dressing). We made our own dressing, if we're going to do it we may as well do it properly and keep it fresh all round.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1 cos lettuce, torn into pieces

2 eggs, boiled, peeled and cut in half

50g croutons ***

4-6 anchovy fillets

50g parmesan, freshly shaved

Freshly ground black pepper

** Optional: Bacon or chicken pieces

*** Croutons available from The Lettuce Shop

Dressing (makes 1 cup):

2 egg yolks, at room temperature

1 tbs Dijon mustard

½ tsp salt

1 tbs lemon juice

1 cup extra light olive oil (do not use EVOO, makes mayo bitter)

4 anchovy fillets

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

To make dressing, place egg yolks, mustard and salt into small food processor and combine well for 30 seconds. Add lemon juice and process for a further 30 seconds.

With the food processor running, first add a few drops of olive oil, then slowly add the olive oil at a very thin drizzle until all oil has been added and you have a creamy mayo texture.

Add anchovy fillets, garlic and Worcestshire sauce, process until combined. The sauce should be of a slightly runny consistency, if too thick add some water and mix well.

Arrange cos leaves on a plate, top with croutons, eggs, parmesan and drizzle generously with dressing. Season with lashings of freshly ground black pepper and serve!

*If you would like to add bacon, lay bacon slices on a baking tray and cook in the oven at 180C for about 10 minutes or until crispy. Drain on paper towel. Alternatively add shredded chicken.

Do you have a favourite lettuce-based salad? Share it with us.

Fennel and citrus salad

Fennel is one of those best kept secrets, not always a first choice when it comes to salad additions yet the perfect ingredient. Fennel has a mellow anise flavour, and when accompanied with citrus it really comes to life.

Fennel is also nutritious. It is high in fibre, low in calories and has been labeled the ultimate digestive aid. With its zesty, palate-cleansing taste, it is a good source of vitamin C and potassium.

This recipe is as simple as it is delicious.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

1 orange, peeled and sliced

½ red onion, sliced

1 avocado, sliced

Handful of rocket

Juice of ½ lemon

Olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Slice fennel thinly then coat in the juice of ½ lemon and a dash of olive oil. To see how to slice fennel bulb click on this link. Meanwhile plate the other sliced ingredients, top with coated fennel and dressing, garnish with freshly ground black pepper and fennel fronds. The perfect summer salad!

Strawberry buttermilk cake

 

Strawberries are sensational at the moment. We have been getting our hands on Heavenly strawberries, grown locally and available until November. If you have not tried Heavenlys yet, may I suggest you do.

 

We have this gorgeously light buttermilk cake recipe for you. The lightest centre topped with strawberries, smells divine fresh from the oven. It could quite possibly be THE EASIEST cake ever. Seriously.

 

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp bicarb of soda

½ tsp salt

100g unsalted butter, softened

1 cup caster sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

200ml buttermilk

1 punnet strawberries, hulled and halved

 

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 9” cake tin.

Sift flour, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt together.

In another bowl cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, add vanilla bean and buttermilk. Mix well.

Gradually add flour to butter mixture until well combined.

Transfer mixture into greased tin. Arrange strawberries on top, sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until cake is well risen, light golden colour and firm to touch. Allow to cool in tin. Once cool turn cake out, cut and serve as is or with a dollop of fresh cream. And devour!

Deliciously nutritious stuffed potatoes

As you know we're all about convenience at The Lettuce Shop, so when it comes to whipping up dinner we lean on the 'easy and convenient' side. Stuffed potatoes are not only stocked with nutrition, you can add whatever vegetables you like and they're super simple to prepare. Not to mention they taste delicious!

For this recipe we added mushroom, tomatoes and fresh chives. 

Ingredients (serves four):

4 large Nadine potatoes

8 button mushrooms, sliced

2 tomatoes, chopped

Fresh chives, chopped

Butter

Cheddar cheese, grated

Sour cream

Sea salt

Wash potatoes, pat dry and pierce with a fork. Bake in oven at 200C for 1 hour or until soft when pricked. Once cooked, allow to cool. Make a thin slice along the length of each potato and scoop out the centre. Place centres into a bowl, mash with a knob of butter, salt and pepper. 

Sauté mushrooms in butter, add tomatoes and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add to potato mash mix and combine. 

Place potato/mushroom mix into the centre of hollowed out potatoes. Place onto baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and sea salt and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven, top with cheese, sour cream and chives. Serve!

For a more kid-friendly version fill potatoes with pizza topping ingredients such as pepperoni and mozzarella. Pizza style stuffed spud, genius!

No bake strawberry cheesecake

When good strawberries have been hard to come by for awhile we get a little bit excited when we stumble across delicious berries like these. They smell absolutely sensational, and taste as sweet as can be. Eaten fresh, they require nothing else to compliment their beautiful flavour. Added to a cheesecake however, they are equally as delicious, and the sweet smell of strawberries only compliments the mild flavour of cheesecake.

These beauties are locally grown in Wanneroo, and if you like strawberries we suggest you get your hands on some.

Ingredients
Base:
250g Granita biscuits, blend to crumbs

100g unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
300ml whipping cream

500g light cream cheese, softened

100g caster sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

1 punnet strawberries, hulled and pureed

10g unflavoured gelatine (1 sachet - or 2 sachets if you prefer your cheesecake more on the firm side)

Topping:
1 punnet strawberries, hulled

Grease round springform cake tin. ** Tip: turn removable base of tin upside down so the cheesecake base won’t stick into the groove that forms at the join.

Mix biscuit crumbs and butter well and press firmly into base of tin. Place into the fridge while making the filling. 

Whip cream to medium stiffness (mousse-like texture) and chill. In another bowl mix cream cheese and sugar together until smooth and creamy.

Heat lemon juice and pureed strawberries in saucepan. Take pan off heat and sprinkle in gelatine, stirring until dissolved. Set aside to cool – gelatine and cream cheese mixtures must be at the same temperature before combining. Add ¾ of the cooled puree mixture to cream cheese and sugar mixture (the remaining ¼ kept for the top of the cheesecake), stir until combined. Fold in whipped cream until well combined. Pour into base and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Remove cheesecake from fridge after 1 hour and pour remainder of puree mixture on top. Return to fridge overnight or until fully set.

Once set, gently run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake to loosen it before unlocking the spring form pan. Garnish with strawberries and serve!

We are joining in the Berry nice to meet you! blog hop. Check out some of the other lovely recipes below.

Five reasons why vegetables are so good for you

At The Lettuce Shop we take our vegetables very seriously. Not only do we pride ourselves on the good quality vegetables we supply, we genuinely have an interest in good veg. And in our opinion, it is all good! Vegetables are so versatile and there are hundreds of different ways to prepare them. Here are five reasons why vegetables are good for you:

1. Vegetables are fat-free. Over 95% of vegetables contain less than one gram of fat per serving. With low or no calories, vegetables are the ideal accompaniment to any meal.
2. Vegetables are dense in nutrients. High in vitamins and other nutrients including fibre and anti-oxidants which are vital for a healthy diet, vegetables are the obvious choice. So while they taste delicious, they are also good for you.
3. Vegetables help boost the immune system. Vegetables high in vitamin C help keep our bodies healthy during the flu season.
4. Vegetables aid in protecting us against a number of diseases such as some cancers, stroke, diabetes and heart disease.
5. "You are what you eat." Eating a diet rich in healthy vegetables improves appearance in skin, eyes, hair and teeth. Vitamins and minerals in vegetables aid in keeping circulation and the overturning of cells at a healthy rate.

If this is not enough to convince you, just imagine a dish without the colour of a range of vegetables. The reds, deep greens, oranges and yellows of vegetables only add to the appearance of dishes. Get your fix today!

Have a great week!

The Lettuce Shop team

Behind the scenes at The Lettuce Shop

The Lettuce Shop team works like a well-oiled machine. Incoming orders are processed, produce is carefully selected from the markets and returned to our premises whereby we then set out to pack the orders for our customers in our refrigerated packing room. All produce selected by John at the markets is the freshest he can find. John doesn’t settle for substandard, he is very fussy when it comes to quality produce.

We hope you are happy with your deliveries, we welcome feedback and love to hear what you think. The Lettuce Shop team strive to provide the best service possible, we love what we do and it shows!

The Lettuce Shop Team

Cherry tomato love!

Cherry tomatoes, although botanically a fruit, are considered a vegetable as they are mostly used in savoury dishes. Cherry tomatoes are ideal for roasting, on bruschetta, as a basis for pasta sauces, as garnish, in salads and as a healthy snack option. Nutritional benefits include a rich vitamin C content, low in calories, fat and cholestrol free and a good source of lycopene, which scientists believe contain powerful anticancer properties. Cherry tomatoes are ideal for meat-free diets in assisting iron absorption due to the high vitamin C content. Cherry tomatoes are best when plump, tight-skinned and firm. 

For a deliciously easy pasta recipe check out this simple oven-roasted cherry tomato based pasta provencale that the whole family will enjoy.

Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, we'd love to hear from you.

Have a fabulous week!

The Lettuce Shop Team

Fancy a good cuppa?

Coffee is one of the world’s most widely consumed beverages, and to the astute coffee lover it’s all in the bean. The Lettuce Shop gladly supplies Café Gourmet coffee beans to our customers, and the feedback has been fantastic! Café Gourmet's 100% Arabica beans are freshly roasted in WA. We supply 500g bags and we’ll happily deliver to the workplace. So if you have an espresso machine at work, why not have your milk and Café Gourmet coffee beans delivered right to your door? If you’re lucky enough to have an espresso machine at home, pop beans onto your next order and we'll deliver them to you. If past feedback from our customers is anything to go by, you won’t be disappointed. Order here.

For all you devoted foodies the annual Eat Drink Perth festival is on for the month of March. Head over to the website to see the program stocked with information on events, competitions and gourmet goodness. 

Enjoy the start of autumn!