Herbs and leaves

For many salad = lettuce. Well, to be precise, lettuce, tomato and cucumber. But for years the lettuce leaf has been used as the padding of the salad bowl, a prop in other dishes, a last-minute garnish or the mousey extra in a cast of super-glam ingredients all jostling for stardom. This is a shame, as lettuce and salad leaves in general offer a world of flavour and texture: sweet, bitter, nutty, fresh, crispy, floppy, wispy, pert... take your pick. Add their even more exotic cousins, the herb family, and you have a very exciting range of produce to play with indeed.