Leafy salads are the usual, classic look, which is primarily associated the plant.Modern gourmet known dozens of varieties of lettuce.However, very often one and the same type of lettuce may have several names, so sometimes there is confusion.Let's deal!
Classic lettuce
Perhaps the most well-known and commonly used varieties of lettuce.It got its name from the Latin word lac - milk because its juice is like milk.Lettuce grown since time immemorial on almost every garden of the Russian people.Bitterness in lettuce should not be - it appears only when the plant during the growth was not enough light and moisture.
To taste lettuce rather bland and the degree of crunch never be compared with an iceberg and radicchio.In addition, a salad becomes tasteless, and overripe if it was fastened to a head.
lettuce looks perfect in combination with other, stronger-tasting salads and fresh vegetables.Its good to use for sandwiches or stuffed cabbage.But the use of the lettuce as a "cushion" for steak or steak cooks do not recommend - a thin piece of paper quickly lose appearance.
If the lettuce is in a salad, you must first hold it in cold water, so that it retained its juiciness.
Oak salad
One of the famous lettuce - oak lettuce.Dubov called him, because its leaves resemble oak leaves.Stained oak lettuce can vary from green to burgundy-brown.Oak lettuce has a very delicate taste nutty nuance, so it is recommended for those dishes where there is no other dominant flavors.This salad is good emphasize dishes with mushrooms, salmon, toast.
salad Lollo Rosso
Lollo Rosso lettuce coral is often called.He has curly leaves and small pale green with burgundy or purple-red border.This popular variety of salad is perfect for grilled meat.When buying lettuce Lollo Rosso need to pay attention to its color: if it is completely purple - it means to be overripe and tasteless.Reddish shade should be only in the middle of the sheet and "a side", and the rest - green.
arugula salad
arugula salad looks like sorrel, and the taste is quite neutral.This salad is one of the few heads of cabbage does not grow and the beam, and separately for leaves.It is valued primarily for its invigorating effect.The classic combination - arugula, tomatoes and parmesan cheese.
When you purchase is necessary to choose the arugula leaves no longer than 10-15 cm. Stems from the rocket must be cut (they are bitter), and use only the leaves, which have fragrant walnut mustard-pepper flavor.Arugula well with other Mediterranean products - mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
It can be put in a salad, added to pasta, pizza, risotto, or used in place of basil pesto sauce.
Endive, eskarial Frieze
Endive and its variants eskarial and frieze - crispy salads.As they grow, their leaves are linked to the core remained yellow and tender (and generally grow endive in the dark, that he produce substances intibin, which gives it a bitter taste) .These salads "friends" with onion, garlic, thyme, andwith each other.They are eaten raw or steamed, and is usually served with shrimps, fish, cheese and citrus.
Watercress
watercress, or garden perechnik, very common in the Caucasus.Young fresh leaves of watercress is very good as a part of vegetable salad and as a seasoning, because watercress contains mustard oil, which gives it a tangy and tart taste, reminiscent of a radish and horseradish.It uses only fresh as a seasoning for salads, meat, fish, eggs, gravy and soups.
Articles Source: shkolazhizni.ru
