lettuce salad with turkey sauce
(omnivorous)

recipe by mb

just the recipe

what I was looking for

The very first time I opened this book the photograph of this particular recipe caught my eye. It's a beautiful photo of crunchy romaine lettuce topped with saucy ground meat. It made me ravenous to try it. And I figure what better way to celebrate the end of this book of the month than by doing the recipe I have been the most excited about since the beginning?

what I made

I made the beef-sauced hot lettuce salad from our book of the month Beyond the Great Wall (pp. 67 and 69) but instead of beef I used turkey, and I made a few other changes (of course).

chit-chat

Now, you wouldn't think that this would be delicious, because the idea of putting a warm sauce on top of lettuce is actually fairly disgusting. But oh my friends, how wrong you would be.

grades for my version

healthy	B	Really not so bad.
fast	A	I was surprised by how fast this was!
easy	A	The payoff is huge for minimal effort.
cheap	B	I'm only giving it a B because I used ground turkey, which is not as cheap as ground beef.
delicious	A	Astoundingly so.

yield

Serves 4 as a side dish, but I ate almost the entire thing for lunch one day!

equipment

   a large bowl
   a knife
   a frying pan
   a garlic press
   a spatula
   a small bowl

the leafy greens

ingredients	A+D	mb	why?
romaine lettuce	4 cups, coarsely torn into pieces	3 cups, cut into strips	faster [1], healthier [2]
baby spinach	none	1 cup	healthier [2]
Notes
[1]	Tearing lettuce into pieces isn't difficult or anything, but it is time-consuming. Simply cutting it into strips is significantly faster, in my opinion.
[2]	Spinach is healthier than lettuce, so I substituted one cup of spinach for one cup of lettuce. This made it healthier, but I still got the crunch from the lettuce. It's the best of both worlds.

   Shred the lettuce with your knife and put it into the large bowl. Then add the spinach and toss the two together.

the sauce

ingredients	A+D	mb	why?
oil	1 Tablespoon peanut or vegetable	1 Tablespoon sesame	tastier, healthier [1]
garlic	1 Tablespoon, minced	1 Tablespoon, crushed	easier
ginger	1 Tablespoon, minced	1 Tablespoon, minced	no change
meat	½ lb. ground beef	½ lb. ground turkey	weight [2]
salt	½ teaspoon	¼ teaspoon	no change
soy sauce	1 Tablespoon	1 Tablespoon	no change
vinegar	1 Tablespoon black rice vinegar	1 Tablespoon not black rice vinegar	easier [3]
warm water	½ cup	½ cup	no change
cornstarch	2 teaspoons	2 teaspoons	no change
cold water	1 Tablespoon	1 Tablespoon	no change
Notes
[1]	The original recipe called for peanut or vegetable oil to fry everything in and then sesame oil to mix into it at the end for flavor. I figured that if I combined those two steps and fried everything in sesame oil that I'd end up with the taste but without any extra fat. Ta-da!
[2]	I use ground turkey because it's significantly lower in calories and saturated fats than beef. I also really like the way it tastes.
[3]	None of my local regular supermarkets have black rice vinegar, so I'd have to go to a nearby Asian grocery store to get it. So much easier just to use what I already have.

     Heat your frying pan over medium-high heat. When it's all heated up add the garlic and ginger and fry them until they are just barely beginning to brown. Now add the ground turkey and the salt and use your spatula to break the meat up into as small pieces as you possibly can.

When the meat has cooked add the soy sauce, vinegar, and warm water to the pan and stir completely.

   In the small bowl stir the cornstarch and cold water together until there are no more lumps left and then add to the frying pan. Stir well to fully incorporate the cornstarch and then let the pan cook for about a minute, until the sauce is nice and thickened. Pour the sauce onto the lettuce and toss the entire thing.

Serve immediately as a side dish or (if you're smart like me) simply grab a fork and keep it all to yourself.

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