Enjoying the virtues of romaine
Pat Ernst Dugan
May 12, 2005

Romaine lettuce is not just for Caesar salad. I’ve recently discovered there’s more to this green, and it starts in the produce section with resealable bags of romaine lettuce hearts.

Whether you serve the leaves whole (as Caesar Cardini did in the original version, invented in 1924 in Tijuana, Mexico), tear them over the salad bowl as in many restaurant variations today, or stack them and cut them with a knife (my husband Roy’s new technique), there are lots of bright-tasting ways to enjoy the homey side of this lettuce variety.

Romaine is an elongated-headed lettuce, usually sold in large heads by the pound. It has dark green leaves on the outside and a lighter green interior; romaine hearts are now packaged three smaller heads to a bag, weighing in at a little over a pound.

Like iceberg lettuce, it does need to be washed and yes, dried (so that the salad dressing will adhere, the leaves will stay crisp longer and so that they are ready when you are hungry). Paper towels do a great job as well as a salad spinner if you have one.

Wash, dry and slip the leaves right back into the resealable bag, perhaps leaving some in a separate storage bag handy for the extra crunch that invigorates tuna or tomato sandwiches.

Commercially, romaine ranks second in Californian crop importance (after iceberg lettuce). But romaine comes out ahead in nutrition. It contains vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), folate and vitamin C.
Of course, the biggest benefit to most lettuces is their near-nothing calorie content and their high water content (very filling!)

Regarded by Romans as a healthful food with healing properties, research shows that they probably ate it cooked. In France, this Roman lettuce was translated to laitue romaine (perhaps we Americans shortened the name?). In Europe, romaine is also referred to as Cos lettuce, since it originates on the Greek island of Cos. (Try a Greek Caesar-romaine salad with feta, tomatoes, cucumbers and Greek vinaigrette.)

Although there is some question as to the invention and naming of Caesar salad, the colorful and most often repeated story is the plight of Caesar Cardini. One Fourth of July weekend, his restaurant kitchen was running low on supplies and he still had guests to feed. Prohibition was the law in the United States, so many California residents made their way to the hotels and restaurants across the border for a good time.

Caesar prepared a garlic vinaigrette dressing table-side (with coddled egg but probably not anchovies), coated whole romaine leaves with the dressing, sprinkled them with croutons and Parmesan cheese and served them flat on a plate in circular fashion with the stem side out, so that diners could eat it with their fingers.

The safety issue of eating dressing containing only partially cooked eggs drove chefs to create new versions and dressings. Most restaurants today serve some version of a Caesar salad, as a side salad with lots of croutons and Parmesan cheese, or as a main-course option with the addition of grilled chicken or shrimp. I recently ate in a restaurant that was touting their new Caesar-romaine leaves plated whole, to be eaten as finger food.

Ever since I wore braces for four years as an adult, I’ve been enamored of chopped lettuce salads. So when Roy fixed a dinner salad last week and stacked the romaine leaves and cut them into 1/2-inch chiffonade slices, his salad went to my A list.

Roy will never make this salad the same way twice. The first hint he will give you is to open the refrigerator and cupboard and see what you have on hand.

Pat Ernst Dugan, a culinary consultant, teacher and personal chef, is the owner of Chez Pat in Corning. E-mail her at foodlyyours@aol.com or send comments and questions to be forwarded to: Foodly Yours, Star-Gazette, Attn: Features Department, 201 Baldwin St., P.O. Box 285, Elmira, NY 14902.