Grilled Romaine Lettuce. That’s Right, Salad on the Grill!!!
I got this idea from the NetCookingTalk.com Forums. I spend a lot of time in their BBQ forum, but they also have a lot of other great sub forums on the site. This recipe made STLToday.com’s favorite recipes for 2009.
Back to the grilled salad. Sounds nuts right? I thought the same thing but a few people tried it on NetCookingTalk and they raved about it. So after grilling burgers and brats for the fam on Mother’s Day, I decided to give it a shot. I am extremely happy I did. This will become a regular staple at future GrillinFools cookouts. Something about the combination of the charred flavor, the crispness of the lettuce and the fresh grated Romano cheese was simply amazing. Click below to see how you can add it to your menu too….
This is so easy and so incredible. The ingredients?
1 head of Romaine lettuce
Enough olive oil to slather both sides
1/2 cup of fresh grated Romano (Parm or Asiago could also be used, just nothing from a green can)
Pinch of salt
Couple turns of black pepper
A dusting of granulated garlic
That’s it.
Prep and cooking is even easier than compiling the ingredients. Start off with a head of Romaine lettuce rinsed and dried:
Slice the Romaine in two length wise and pull away the few leaves that will separate when you slice it:
Drizzle liberally with olive oil and put a little coarse salt, fresh cracked black pepper and dust with granulated garlic:
Repeat on the other side:
Grate about a half cup of a hard cheese like Asiago, Parmesian, or Romano. In this case I used Romano:
Now off to the grill:
You didn’t think that all I made was grilled lettuce did you? We did burgers and brats as well. The lettuce thing was just something I wanted to try. But I think I lose all credibility as a serious griller if I don’t show some meat on the pit. Brats, resting in a beer bath:
Burgers:
Place the Romaine right over the hot side of the grill. This doesn’t need to be high heat for say, searing a steak. Medium hot is about all it needs:
This only takes a couple of minutes so keep checking the underside. Look for the lettuce to blacken a bit. A nice char is the desired result without having the lettuce wilt too much under the heat:
After about 2-3 minutes on each side, I now have a nice char on both sides of both halves:
Now, place on a platter, sprinkle the cheese on and eat:
This was devoured in pretty short order by about 5 or 6 people. All those that were sort of chuckling at the notion of grilling lettuce raved about it. This may be the perfect side to go with a steak. Once the steak is pulled off to rest, throw the lettuce on. The steak, depending on thickness, should be perfectly rested when your grilled salad is ready to be plated.
Also, please note that we did not eat the too far down to the base. Romaine is notorious for having a lot of dirt and grit build up between the leaves. Rinsing it will get most of that out of the upper sections of the leaves, but without pulling each leaf off and cleaning the base you won’t be able to remove that grit. So to avoid eating that, just don’t go down that far…
If you have any questions about the above dish please feel free to comment below or email me at Scott@GrillinFools.com
If you would like to see other side dishes and appetizers, click here. Or other fruits and vegetables click here.
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Filed under: Fruits and Vegetables, Sides and Appetizers
I have seen a few recipes for grilled romaine lately – I’m thinking I’ll have to give it a try!
I considered this over the weekend but dismissed it after Scott set the grill on fire (sigh). Will have to try it once the grill is operational again.
Yum!! This looks great. Can’t wait to fire up my grill.
I’ve seen grilled romaine around and have been wondering how it was. Hmmmm, looks good I think I’ll try it soon
thanks for this post! i’ll add this as research to my thesis: “if its edible, I can grill it!”. i’ll be cooking this soon.
I learned something new today, that romaine lettuce can be grilled! very informative post
I love grilled salad! Never have done romaine…but endive and radicchio. Sounds great and it is finally grilling season!
Never had grilled greens before…I need to give this a try!
Grilled lettuce?!? Who knew!?! I will give it a try.
Everyone,
It caught me completely off guard too. First I mocked. Then I decided to try and I got mocked. It was so good that I’m doing it this weekend for my Wife and I. I have no idea what else I am grilling, but grilled Salad is on the menu again.
Please let me know how yours turns out. Also, if you try anything different. I considered slathering the romaine with Caesar Salad Dressing instead of oil and see how the salad dressing tastes caramelized onto the lettuce but decided to keep it simple for the first go round…
Nothing is unfit for grilling….you made it loud and clear..:)
That is definitely something I am going to have to try. Sounds so wierd, but looks so good!
I have always wanted to try grilled romaine. This looks delicious and so easy! Thank you for the recipe.
http://www.cookincanuck.com
What a great idea! Thanks for taking us through the process – I realize it’s easy but it’s nice to have a good visual of what it should look like so that it’s neither over nor under done! I love cool, crisp lettuce salad but this sounds like a deliciously different alternative (probably a lot healthier, too, w/o all the dressing!)
This looks so good! I’ve seen Emeril do it several times on his show, but I’ve never tried it. Next time hubby fires up the grill, I’m slapping some Romaine on there! Thanks!
What a great idea – I bet it tasted as fabulous as it looks.
The grilled lettuce sounds so good. Talk about a tasty caesar option.
Its very new. You give all unique recipes based on grill & grilling ramaine lettuce is really new & its a must for me to try it. I have tried your grills based on chicken. It came out well. Thanx for sharing
Very nice idea on the grilled romaine salad. Going to have to give that a try.
Seems great. I tried a salad made from a grilled romaine head once, but I bet I could do it much better at home with your recipe.
Sorry to comment twice in a row! I just made this last night, and it was really good. Do you mind if I post my picture on my blog, and of course credit yours?
Athlete,
By all means post it on your blog. Just give us credit with a link. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I did it again last night as well for about 8. It came out really well. Got a suggestion for a modification to the recipe that involves a hot bacon vinaigrette. From your handle, I’m guessing that is not your thing but for others it might be. I’m waiting on the recipe and I plan on adding it to this post…
I have made this six times this past week. mainly because I had the romaine to use up but also because it addicting! I sprinkled bacon and balsamic vinegar on it also. Very, very good!
I’m on board with everyone else. I haven’t tried it, but I’m curious how it will turn out.