Grilled Romaine Salad

Hey, it's Memorial Day--the official beginning of summer, in my book at least. And what do you do in the summer? You grill? What do you do to ring in the first day of summer? You grill EVERYTHING. Even your salad.

I have eaten grilled romaine in restaurants, but I haven't been brave enough to try it at home and my grill has been out of propane since mid-August. Those two factors were working against me in my romaine-grilling endeavors.

This past weekend, my uncle brought, quite possibly, the largest head of romaine I have ever seen. He plucked it right out of his garden on his way to my house. He also came bearing red and green onions and cabbage. Did I mention I love summer and fresh produce?

After removing and cleaning the majority of the leaves, I was left with a better-than-store-bought romaine heart. I looked up to see if anyone had noticed how perfect it was. Right then, my aunt said, "You better hide that!" Immediately, it was whisked into a bag and put in the back of the produce drawer.

I knew I wanted to grill the heart to see if I could do it as well as the restaurants. Grilling the lettuce a very simple way to dress up a salad. It only takes a few minutes and has drastic results. If I had a delicious caesar dressing, I would have made a caesar salad, but I only had the homemade balsamic on hand at the time. You could a) chop the lettuce and toss it with dressing, b) drizzle dressing over the lettuce (as I did), or leave it in tact and lightly brush the dressing between the layers of lettuce.

The end result is a lettuce that is very tender--there is very little crunch factor--and flavored with a hint of grill...mmm. Who says lettuce tastes like nothing?!

head of romaine, halved
grill
dressing and toppings of your choice

Warm the grill to about medium heat. Once the grill is toasty, place the romaine halves on the grill. Flip after two minutes. Once the second side has finished cooking...you are finished. See, it's that easy!

If your lettuce turns black or catches fire, either the grill is too hot or you forgot to watch the time.