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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Lettuce Pancakes-Gourmet February 1973


Still making my way through the stack of vintage magazines. I think we have a new favourite veggie fritter/pancake here. I modified it slightly by adding some chopped parsley for colour and an extra egg. I'll post it as written, but note that depending on how dry your breadcrumbs are, just how large the lettuce is, etc. you may need to make adjustments so the mixture will bind. Not a big deal, really.

By modern standards, these seem rather plain without spices (save for the parsley and some ground black pepper) but resist the desire to start adding a pinch of this or that-at least the first time you make them. The boys both felt they were perfect as presented. Hard to argue with that.

I used some iceberg lettuce that was starting to fade for this. The recipe wasn't specific regarding lettuce type, but based on "crisp", and "head", I think we're talking about iceberg. That said, I don't think it would be harmed by using leaf lettuce, considering the lettuce is wilted with salt before using. I'm sure I'll end up experimenting with other versions of these pancakes.

You Will Need:

1 medium head of crisp lettuce, grated
1 tablespoon salt
2 large eggs
1 large onion, grated
2/3 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup oil for frying

Place shredded lettuce in a bowl with salt and let stand 5 minutes. Drain, and then (I used a towel) squeeze out excess water from lettuce (You'll be left with a shockingly small amount of lettuce).

Combine eggs, onion, breadcrumbs, pepper, and dried lettuce in a bowl and mix well. Heat oil in a deep pan over moderately high heat and fry, a few at a time until deeply browned on each side. Drain, and serve immediately. Makes about ten good sized pancakes.

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