Oh, summer lettuce! I love romaine for its crunch, arugula for its bitter little bite, and red leaf for its beauty. But the silky soft quality of butter lettuce is seductively satisfying. Seeing big, gorgeous heads of it at the market, I couldn’t resist getting them to compose this beautiful—and simple, summer salad.
To make it, you’ll just need to wash each leaf carefully to remove any grit, then hand tear the leaves into bite sized pieces. Over this, sprinkle a big handful of thinly sliced celery providing contrasting crunch, and top with sliced fresh strawberries for fruity tang, and avocado for even more silkiness. To finish, squeeze a little fresh lemon over all, and add a few fine grinds of black pepper which goes surprisingly well with strawberries.
For the dressing, I like little dollops of lemon cream made by whisking cream with lemon juice and zest, a squirt of Dijon mustard and a few grains of sugar.