ICEBERG AHEAD.

The humble iceberg lettuce is the saviour of our summer, no matter the weather.

I don’t care if it’s a heat-wave or a thunderstorm, I’m clinging to my iceberg.

Nothing delivers crunch, subtle sweetness and good old-fashioned refreshment like an iceberg lettuce. That’s because – like a real iceberg – it’s 96% water.

If you don’t like iceberg lettuce, then you’re just not doing it right. It has to be COLD, or it won’t deliver any textural drama at all.  I usually prep the leaves than throw them into a bag back in the fridge until I’m ready to eat. For that very reason, do not take iceberg on a picnic. Warm, limp lettuce will not make any friends.

In the decades that iceberg has come in and out of fashion, there have been various on-trend techniques with its presentation. 

The Lettuce Cup. It reeks of 1970 Women’s Weekly cookbooks, but I challenge you to find a better vehicle for san choy bau. (As long as the lettuce is chilled almost to death. It’s the combo of icy-cold lettuce and hot-from-the-wok minced pork, quail or chicken that’s the killer).

The Wedge. This is the perfect undercarriage for the thicker, more visible, American-style dressings – Caesar (with grated parmigiano and artful placement of anchovy), buttermilk, green goddess, or blue cheese and bacon.

The Braise.  The French adore braising it lightly in chicken stock, with shallots and peas; an elegant partner for roast chicken or fish.

The Stir-Fry. It’s a revelation when flash-fried in a wok until softly crunchy. The Cantonese word for lettuce is san (or sang) choy, which sounds like the words for ‘rising prosperity’, making stir-fried lettuce a propitious choice for Lunar New Year dining. Loved this stir-fried iceberg, cucumber and black fungus at Hamish Ingham’s Redbird Chinese in Sydney’s Redfern. Bad photo, good dish.

The Shred. It’s very now, The Shred, and ideal with prawns and cocktail sauce, in a burger, or as filler in a salad sandwich.   I even serve (icy-cold) shredded iceberg with san choy bau and rice, and just mix it in as I eat. It’s a doddle to make, but let me know below if you’d like a recipe for it in time for Lunar New Year, Feb 10.

A craving the other day for something simple, light and crunchy but tangy resulted in this beauty: it’s basically shredded iceberg tossed in a deconstructed tzatziki Greek dip. The dressing is yoghurt, olive oil, lemon juice, honey, dill and mint, the lettuce is shredded and the whole thing is scattered with diced or sliced cucumber and lightly pickled red onion and served iceberg-cold.

Add grated garlic to the dressing if you like, or a crumble of feta and a tumble of toasted walnuts, but keep it simple.

This is a cooling, calming salad; a ‘new year, new you’ sort of salad; not a salad-as-a-meal. Not everything needs to go ka-pow, with full-on energy. Sometimes you just need a little breathing space.

ICEBERG LETTUCE WITH YOGHURT, CUCUMBER AND MINT.

• Half red onion, very finely sliced

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• 3 tbsp natural yoghurt, Greek-style (thick)

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp honey

• Handful of picked mint leaves, finely sliced

• 2 tbsp dill, roughly chopped

• 1 iceberg lettuce, fridge-cold

• half Lebanese cucumber, peeled, de-seeded and diced or sliced

• Extra dill and mint leaves for serving

Soak the red onion in vinegar while you throw everything else together.

Whisk the yoghurt in a large bowl with lemon juice, honey, olive oil, chopped mint, dill, sea salt and pepper.

Add the apple cider vinegar, reserving the onion for serving.

Cut the iceberg in half, and cut out the thick stem. Cut in half again, and finely shred the leaves.

Add the shredded lettuce to the dressing and toss well.

Pile onto a plate and scatter with diced or sliced cucumber, extra dill and mint, and the red onion.

Serve cold. It’s iceberg, it has to be cold. Serves four as a salad.

Tip: Don’t discard too many of the outer leaves – they’re the greenest, and it’s good to have gradations of green-to-white here. To de-seed a cucumber, just scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon, preferably over the bin.

Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Terry for his suggestions on how to improve this salad, most of which seem to revolve around sausages, anchovies or cheese; none of which I took him up on. We compromised with egg and onion.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to Elders past and present, and to the continuing strength and resilience of First Nations people, communities and cultures.