Butter Lettuce Cups with Seasonal Vegetables

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Mandoline or very sharp knife
• •Salad spinner
• •Large shallow serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Select and wash the lettuce

   Start with lettuce that feels heavy for its size, with leaves that spring back when you press the head gently. Separate the leaves carefully from the core, keeping them whole. The outer leaves make generous cups; the inner hearts are more delicate and tender. Wash in cold water, then dry thoroughly. Wet leaves will not hold a dressing.

   Butter lettuce bruises easily. Handle each leaf as you would a ripe peach.
2. 2

   Prepare the vegetables

   Shell the English peas into a bowl. If they are truly fresh, just picked, taste one raw. It should be sweet and grassy. Slice the sugar snaps thin on a bias so they show their pale interior. Shave the radishes into coins so thin you can nearly see through them. Use a mandoline or a very sharp knife for the fennel, cutting it paper-thin so it loses its fierceness and becomes sweet.

   Drop the fennel shavings into ice water for ten minutes if you want them to curl and crisp.
3. 3

   Dress the vegetables lightly

   Combine all the prepared vegetables in a bowl. Add the olive oil and lemon juice. Toss gently with your hands, lifting and turning rather than stirring. Season with salt and pepper. Taste. The vegetables should taste bright and alive, not drowned. The oil is there to carry the lemon and salt, not to coat.

4. 4

   Assemble the cups

   Arrange the lettuce leaves on a platter, cupped sides facing up. They should look like little boats waiting to be filled. Spoon the dressed vegetables into each cup, letting them tumble naturally. Do not pack them tight. Scatter the fresh herbs over everything at the end so they stay perky and fragrant.

5. 5

   Finish and serve

   Drizzle a little more olive oil over the filled cups if you like. Add a final pinch of flaky salt. Serve immediately while the lettuce is still crisp and the vegetables still have their aliveness. These do not wait.

   Invite guests to pick up the cups with their hands. This is finger food, meant to be eaten in two bites with a napkin nearby.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your butter lettuce from a farmer if you can. The difference between lettuce picked yesterday and lettuce that traveled a thousand miles in a truck is the difference between something alive and something merely edible.
• •This recipe calls for spring vegetables, but follow the season. In summer, use raw corn kernels and halved cherry tomatoes. In fall, try shaved raw butternut squash with pomegranate seeds. In winter, thinly sliced celery root and citrus segments work beautifully.
• •The olive oil matters here because you taste it directly. Use the best you have, something grassy and peppery that you would drink from a spoon.
• •If your peas are starchy rather than sweet, they have been off the vine too long. Blanch them briefly in salted water and shock in ice to revive some brightness.

Advance Preparation

• •Lettuce leaves can be washed, dried, and stored between damp paper towels in the refrigerator for up to four hours before serving.
• •Vegetables can be cut and held separately, covered, for up to two hours. Do not dress them until just before assembling.
• •Once assembled, these cups should be served within fifteen minutes. The lettuce wilts and the vegetables lose their crispness if they sit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 140g)