Miner's lettuce is a crisp green that has a unique look and an almost succulent texture. It's perfect as an intro to foraging because it's so distinctive-looking that when you've found it, you know you've found it, and you can't mistake it for anything harmful. It has broad lilypad-like leaves with flower-shoots rising from their centers. Those pads grow on thick, edible stems from a central root system. The size of the leaves change drastically depending on the maturity of the plant, and can be as tiny as a quarter-inch across, or as broad as five or six inches. Typically, at least ten or twenty of the leaves and stems will grow in a single clump which can be harvested by pulling up the entire clump, or by simply cutting off all of the stems several inches below the leaves.

It's a fairly hearty green in that it can be dressed without losing its crunchiness, and I love to use it in place of more delicate lettuces. Its flavor is mild but slightly lemony, not at the level of sorrel, but more flavorful than your supermarket lettuces. It's best eaten uncooked, but can also be blanched or boiled like spinach or, especially, treated like Bloomsdale spinach. You can use miner's lettuce as a simple garnish like you'd use a small nasturtium leaf, or it can be used as a substantive component of a course, when you want the fresh crunch. Miner's lettuce salads are wonderful.

Best of all, you can find this stuff all over the place. It's especially prevalent in California and the Northwest, and more so during spring. I found some huge patches of miner's lettuce last weekend along the 17-mile drive in Carmel, and stopped to fill a bag. Dinner that night was a miner's lettuce salad with rabbit confit, tangelos, sourdough breadcrumbs, and a sherry vinaigrette. I was able to toss the miner's lettuce with the warm rabbit confit because the miner's lettuce, like frisee, won't turn to mush when warmed, as most greens do.

Posted by Barzelay on 2010/04/10 @ 0:11 | Comments (2) | Veggies, Fruit, Grain, Cheese

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