An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace

by Tamar Adler

a truly pacifying rice dish, make rice and lettuce soup. I first made this soup after looking at a head of lettuce and wondering why I’d never seen lettuce risotto on a menu. I didn’t get the answer, because I then began wondering why no one ever boiled risotto rice. I’m sure lettuce risotto is on a menu, and it’s just a menu I haven’t seen. And people surely do boil risotto rice, and ought to, because it turns out wonderfully. I passed this recipe along to a friend who reported that it was “butter’s highest and best use, because the lettuce becomes an expression of butter . . . sweet, crunchy, innocent butter.” Rice and lettuce soup 11/2 onions, medium diced 2 tablespoons butter salt 1/3 cup parsley leaves, roughly chopped 1/2 cup Arborio rice 81/2 cups chicken stock or combination chicken stock and water 1 very big head lettuce, such as romaine or other crisp leaf; about 16 cups very, very loosely packed Cook the onions in butter in a medium-sized pot, salting them once you have added them to the pot. When they’re softened, add the parsley. Add the rice and liquid. Let it cook about half an hour until the rice is completely cooked through, and then for another 20 minutes until it’s jagged around the edges. Turn off the heat. Taste for salt. Cut the lettuce in thin ribbons. When you’re ready to eat, warm the soup up, add the lettuce to the soup, and mix it through. Serve each bowl with rice mounded in the middle and more liquid poured over. Drizzle with good olive oil and...