This year’s rain and cool conditions were perfect weather for a bumper crop of garden lettuce. At least that’s what my friend said when she called and asked if I’d like to harvest her’s while she was out of town for a few days.
My answer was a greedy-as-hobbits-offered-mushrooms, “Yes!” I skedaddled to her house on Monday and picked a huge bowlful, smacking my lips the entire time in anticipation of the best taste treat of early summer: wilted lettuce.
The recipe comes from Grandma Fern, my father’s mother. Since Dad was an only child, G’ma Fern passed the recipe on to my mom, who passed it on to me and my sibs. There’s something about fresh lettuce and early onions mingling with the vinegary, salty tang of the dressing that makes my heart go pitter pat. Maybe that’s why I repost the recipe every June.
Grandma Fern’s Wilted Lettuce
10-12 cups garden lettuce (you can mix in fresh spinach, too)
4-6 slices of chopped bacon
1 bunch chopped green onions
1/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup water
1 T sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
Wash lettuce thoroughly and drain it in colander. Put lettuce in a large salad bowl. Add chopped green onions and toss. Fry bacon in skillet until crisp. Drain bacon on a paper towel. Pour off the bacon grease and then return 2 tablespoons of melted grease to the skillet. Mix water, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper together and pour into skillet with the grease. Heat mixture until boiling and pour hot mixture over salad greens until the lettuce wilts. For a more wilted salad, drain the liquid off and reheat it. Pour it over the greens again. Toss the greens until coated with liquid. Garnish salad with bacon. Serve immediately.
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