Leafy Greens

Lamb's Lettuce

Lamb"s lettuce is a flavorful salad green native of Europe.  It can be found in the wild in many parts of Europe, the green is also sold in markets, especially in the spring, when the tender young shoots are the most flavorful.  It has a slightly nutty tangy flavour. 
Use it in mix salad, and it is suitable for cooking; steamed, pureed and mix with mashed potatoes, also sautéed
In the restaurant menu it's named mâche.


Another name for lamb's lettuce: field salad, nut lettuce, Lewiston corn salad, and Rapunzel.


Serve the lamb's lettuce salad with any grilled or fried meat.

Mix salad, lamb's lettuce and Radicchio

Pork Cottoletta
garnished with the mixed salad

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Like other greens, lamb's lettuce is very easy to grow at home although it will go to seed quickly in warm climates.  It needs fertile sandy soil with a lot of compost, and it does require a lot of water. 

"Blond" lamb's lettuce variety in my vegetable patch

The 'lamb's lettuce' name appears to stem from the fact that it tastes best during lambing season, and some people also call it lamb's tongue, because the leaves resemble small tongues.

There are two main varieties:
- Curly lamb's lettuce with attractive round green leaves
- "Blond" lamb's lettuce, with its longer, roughly spoon-shaped, light green leaves.  This variety is the one that I have in my vegetable garden.

Sauté Lamb's Lettuce with Fish and Prawns

I cook the lamb's lettuce too; I sauté with fish and prawns.  I put some in clear meatballs soup as well, it brings out the freshness of the clear soup. Another right combination for the lamb's lettuce is beetroot, and eggs served as a salad with vinaigrette

I started to have the lamb's lettuce since ten years ago and loving it.  I keep planting this delicate lettuce;  it gets bruised easily, one thing that I have to remember is to treat it gently.

Until next post
Susy