This baby lettuce looks like little lamb’s ears (its other name) and will curl delicately around your fork. It has a sweet gentle mineral taste and a beautiful emerald color. The French refers to this lettuce as “doucette”–little sweet one–which is why, if you don’t speak French, you might assume that its name is pronounced “ma-shay,” when in fact, it’s pronounced exactly like that hardcore dance-fighting that white boys do at heavy metal concerts: mosh.
I like this because otherwise, it’s just too cute.
If you are like me and go crazy over strong peppery greens, like arugula and dandelion, then mache will revitalize your love of salads. Alternatively, if you have more run-of-the-mill tastes and your salad consists of iceberg and carrots with thousand-island dressing, mache might be a good way to break you in, by your baby toe, to the ever-expanding world of fancy greens because it’s so nice and fresh and agreeable. The only thing with mache is that it is quite delicate so you must consume it within a couple days of buying it. My favorite easy preparation is to mix it up with sliced avocado with a vinaigrette made from oil and lime juice instead of vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper, and a teeny bit of sugar. It’s the kind of lettuce and the kind of taste that will make you happy that you ate a salad.
RECIPE: Mache & Pear Salad
Have a sweet weekend! See you Monday.
Filed under: Clean Food Daily, greens, lamb's lettuce, lettuce, mache
