Isn’t this vegetable garden lovely? I’d love to take credit for it, but all credit goes to my neighbor who jogs while I walk and plies her green thumb while I think about plying mine. Thanks to her, our family will feast on Grandma Fern’s wilted lettuce tonight. G’ma Fern, my dad’d mother, passed the recipe on to my mom, who passed it on to me and my sibs.
For all you Tolkein and analogy buffs, the three of us are to wilted lettuce what hobbits are to mushrooms. 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. So without any further ado, here is the recipe.
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.
I’m salivating already!
