It has been quite the fall for us. First my grandmother passed away, then a few weeks later her brother Merle as well. My grandmother lived to 97, Merle to 103. Pretty amazing, right?
My mom and I were reminiscing and I thought I’d share one of my Grandma’s favorite things with you. This recipe comes from Dora, my great-grandmother, and all of my great-aunts made it as well.
To say grandma made this often is an understatement. I think she thought bacon drippings and cream had their own food group. : ) She did live to 97 with pretty minimal health problems, so who am I to say otherwise? She even requested this for her 97th birthday! She liked it with a lot of dressing, using some soft rolls to soak up the extra on the plate.
My grandma always had a large garden, with plenty of red leaf lettuce, her favorite. When we would go for a visit she would always go cut off a big bowl of lettuce and some green onions, and we’d have this with dinner. My mom remembers her making a big bowl of it and they would eat it for a few days.
WILTED LETTUCE
1 head red leaf lettuce, chopped
4 green onions, sliced
5-6 slices pepper bacon, chopped
3 T cider vinegar
3/4 cup plus 1 T Heavy cream
salt, to taste
Chop and wash lettuce, dry thoroughly. (This is important to have it really dry so the dressing doesn’t slide off.)
Put in a large bowl, add green onions.
Cook bacon, when crisp remove from pan, saving drippings.
Add bacon to lettuce.
Put vinegar in a 1 cup measure, add cream to make 1 cup.
Add to drippings (you should have 3-4 T of drippings) and bring to a boil.
As soon as it boils, drizzle over salad and toss together.
Sprinkle with a little salt.
Serve with rolls to dip in the dressing, and thick slices tomatoes and sliced cucumbers drizzled with vinegar.
Wilted Lettuce
November 18, 2011
Category
Salad / Dressings
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Total Time
25 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 head red leaf lettuce, chopped
- 4 green onions, sliced
- 5-6 slices pepper bacon, chopped
- 3 T cider vinegar
- 3/4 cup plus 1 T Heavy cream
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Chop and wash lettuce, dry thoroughly. (This is important to have it really dry so the dressing doesn’t slide off.)
- Put in a large bowl, add green onions.
- Cook bacon, when crisp remove from pan, saving drippings.
- Add bacon to lettuce.
- Put vinegar in a 1 cup measure, add cream to make 1 cup.
- Add to drippings (you should have 3-4 T of drippings) and bring to a boil.
- As soon as it boils, drizzle over salad and toss together.
- Sprinkle with a little salt.
Serve with rolls to dip in the dressing, and thick slices tomatoes and sliced cucumbers drizzled with vinegar.
