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Laitues Farcies pour Garniture
Created by Chef Juliette
Small lettuce packets, tender but intact, carry either their own seasoned hearts or pilaff enriched with foie gras, then braise under butter and stock into a polished garnish for roast poultry or veal.
Laitues Farcies pour Garniture (stuffed lettuces for garnish) teach a small, exact lesson: a leaf becomes a proper casing only after it has been softened, cooled, and drained until no hidden water remains. Rush that draining and the packets slide open while their braising liquor turns thin. Get it right, and eight pale-green parcels hold their shape, drink in butter and stock, and arrive glossy enough to sit beside roast poultry or veal.
The original entry assumes a brigade could reach for Cabbages for Garnish.—A (No. 2104) or Cabbages for Garnish.—C (No. 2106) as readily as a pan, with stock never off the fire and a saucier ready to finish the liquor. At home, use one wide sauté pan, ¾ cup of good stock, and make eight parcels. Choose the chopped-lettuce filling, the foie-gras pilaff filling, or four of each. Separate service batches were brigade scaffolding and can go. The parboiling, thorough draining, tight folding, and gentle braise are the dish, so they stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
A large kitchen could blanch whole heads in deep vats; on a home stove, the tender leaves and dense hearts cook more evenly in separate passes, so that is the only procedural change. Before you shape anything, press a leaf between two clean towels. If the towel stays dry, you are ready. That draining is the step that decides the dish.
Ingredients
large butter lettuces
Quantity
2 heads (about 1½ lb / 680 g)
fine sea salt for the blanching water
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 18 g)
finished seasoned chopped-lettuce filling, option A (optional)
Quantity
8 tablespoons (120 ml / 140 g), or 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 70 g) for a split batch, Cabbages for Garnish.—A (No. 2104)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| large butter lettuces | 2 heads (about 1½ lb / 680 g) |
| fine sea salt for the blanching water | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 18 g) |
| finished seasoned chopped-lettuce filling, option A (optional) | 8 tablespoons (120 ml / 140 g), or 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 70 g) for a split batch, Cabbages for Garnish.—A (No. 2104) |
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