Butter Lettuce with Herbs and Crème Fraîche

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large wide salad bowl
• •Small whisk
• •Clean kitchen towels for drying

Instructions

1. 1

   Select and wash the lettuce

   Start with the lettuce. Hold each head in your hands. It should feel heavy for its size, the leaves should yield but not wilt, and the core should look freshly cut, pale and moist rather than browned. Separate the leaves gently, keeping the smaller heart leaves whole. Submerge in cold water, swish once, and lift out. Never run water directly over butter lettuce. The leaves bruise.

2. 2

   Dry the leaves completely

   Lay the leaves in a single layer on clean kitchen towels. Roll gently and refrigerate for at least ten minutes. Wet lettuce refuses dressing. The vinaigrette will slide right off and pool at the bottom of the bowl. Dry leaves drink it in.

   A salad spinner works, but towels are gentler on butter lettuce. These leaves tear if you look at them wrong.
3. 3

   Make the crème fraîche vinaigrette

   In a small bowl, whisk together the crème fraîche, vinegar, and mustard until smooth. The mustard helps everything hold together. Add the olive oil in a slow stream, whisking constantly until you have a creamy, pourable dressing. Season with salt and pepper. Taste. It should be tangy but gentle, rich but not heavy. The crème fraîche rounds everything out.

   Good crème fraîche has a subtle nuttiness. If yours tastes mainly sour, it is past its prime. Fresh crème fraîche smells like sweet cream with just a whisper of tang.
4. 4

   Prepare the herbs

   Gather your herbs just before dressing the salad. Chervil and tarragon bruise quickly once picked. Keep the leaves whole or barely torn. You want to bite into them, not just taste them. Cut chives into batons long enough to see. This is a salad of soft herbs, so let them be themselves.

5. 5

   Dress and serve immediately

   Place dry lettuce leaves in your largest bowl, the widest one you own. Add about half the herbs and drizzle two-thirds of the vinaigrette around the edges of the bowl, not directly on the leaves. Use your hands to turn the salad gently, coating each leaf. Add more dressing only if needed. Taste a leaf. Transfer to a serving platter or individual plates, scatter remaining herbs over the top, and bring to the table. This salad waits for no one. The leaves begin to soften the moment they are dressed.

   Use your hands, not tongs. Tongs crush butter lettuce. Your fingers can feel when each leaf is coated.

Chef Tips

• •Buy butter lettuce still attached to its roots if you can find it. Hydroponic heads in those plastic clamshells last longer and often taste sweeter than field-grown lettuce that traveled too far. But nothing beats lettuce pulled from the ground that morning.
• •At the farmers' market, look for heads that feel heavy and cool. Squeeze gently near the base. It should give slightly but spring back. If it feels hollow or light, the leaves inside have dried out. Ask when it was harvested. The farmer will tell you.
• •This salad must be dressed moments before serving. There is no making it ahead. The crème fraîche vinaigrette can wait in the refrigerator for a few hours, and the washed leaves can rest wrapped in towels, but the two meet only at the last minute.
• •If you cannot find chervil, increase the tarragon slightly and add a few small dill fronds. It will not be the same, but it will still be good. Chervil appears at markets in spring and early summer. That is when this salad is at its best.

Advance Preparation

• •Vinaigrette can be whisked together up to 4 hours ahead and refrigerated. Whisk again before using, as it will separate slightly.
• •Lettuce can be washed, dried, and stored wrapped in towels in the refrigerator for up to 3 hours before serving.
• •Herbs should be picked and prepared no more than 30 minutes before dressing the salad. They darken quickly once torn.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 115g)