h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Lamb's Lettuce - A63688530
Author: Malabarista - U1528154

Just a quickie, because it's the time of year for it.

Very good stuff indeed Mala - things I didn't know about Lamb's Lettuce, such as the rapunzel connection and that it was in the Valerian family.

I wonder whether you should mention cloches as an alternative to foil? I have visions of the foil blowing away in the wind. (you can make cheap cloches out of empty/recycled plastic water bottles)

Oh and a shameless plug for the updated Compost Entry A246971


Well done Mala!

Cloches would be a good addition

And I'll get around to adding links to entries eventually; very slightly busy at the moment (doing laundry so I have something to pack )

Absolutely perfect. My favourite salad, and the entry so comprehensive and impeccably written. You even mention serving it with walnuts, which is the most important thing that can be said about it, IMHO!

I only discovered lamb's lettuce on moving to Germany where it is a staple winter salad vegetable. In England I have only seen it once so far, but I don't eat out much when I'm there.

Here's a tidbit you won't be able to include, but for your amusement, I'll tell it anyway. My husband's aunt (who died over 20 years ago now) used to say that when she was little, they used to have to sing a patriotic song about the "Pfälzer Land". As they were kids and this was an abstract concept beyond their comprehension, they used to sing "Oh du schöner Feldsalat" (or whatever the words of the song were).

Translation: "Pfälzer Land" is the part of the world where I live, but it sounds almost exactly the same as the German word for Lamb's lettuce, which is the prosaic "Feldsalat".

I like to take the roots off and serve only the loose leaves, but you usually find that in restaurants it's served as a whole plant. The other night it took me 15 minutes to prepare a whole punnet of lamb's lettuce this way, where someone else might just have chucked it into a bowl of water. Someone will probably come along now and tell me that all the vitamins are in the roots and I'm throwing the best bit away.

I'm I didn't think of writing this myself!!

I was going to write one on Spätzle, and found it already in PR...

I only bother to take the roots off if they're tough, which is, unfortunately, usually the case with the kind you buy.

they are probably sold like that to extend their shelf-life, they would wither more quickly if stripped of their roots. Plus it would make them much more expensive.


Is it worth mentioning where it can be found - eg in those cellophane packs on the salad counter?

Spätzle just left PR a couple of hours ago!

Whoops - forgot link: F15725970?thread=7200679

I don't think it would make much sense to write that you should look on the salad counter in cellophane packs. It's usually in among the normal veg in plastic punnets here, for a start. So that would make it too country-specific, I think...

Makes a nice accompaniment to Spätzle Well done, TC

I do need to add links, but not sure I'll get it done tonight (eyes hurt, new glasses) and I'm leaving for Berlin in the morning. Will try to do it from there.

Cloches and a few links added.

Things are very, very hectic here. I won't have much time to check hootoo from work, I think, and I've not yet got my own computer on the internet. Shall I pull it for now?

No - it's fine where it is. There's stuff at the bottom of this list from before the Ark

Good entry

"in the tower starts with a simple ."
--> a simple what?

A11681912 - 'spinach'
A12745785 - 'apples'
A872048 - 'feta cheese'
A241994 - 'garlic'

Alex

Thanks, Alex, very helpful.

I'll try to make changes tomorrow (and figure out what the simple what is) - on office internet access only at the moment, and it's high time I left...

"on office internet access only at the moment, and it's high time I left.."

You don't say...

Very interesting indeed I want to eat some now

Updated that now. It's a simple pregnancy craving - but I got the code for the link wrong, so it hid the text, too.

Added the other links as well, thanks.

(Twiddling my thumbs here anyway. It's raining, so I'm procrastinating on going out there to shoo the real back over the ha-ha. They're eating daffodils, though, not lettuce, much to the dismay of the wardens...)

Sheep eat A21989901? That's not in my entry

Well, they shouldn't, because they're somewhat poisonous. But hey, anything that impairs their ability to jump... (I'm getting a bit tired of those sheep, constantly herding them back was not in my job description )

But I'm not pregnant

Oh wait