Charred Romaine with Oil-and-Parmesan Dressing
Half a romaine heart on the grate, dressed with lemon, oil, and hard parmesan.
- calories
- 210
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 38
- protein
- 5 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 6 min
- total time
- 11 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Grill grate
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Romaine hearts | 2 | halved lengthwise, kept in the cooler |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 1/3 cup | some for the grate, the rest for the dressing |
| Grated parmesan | 1/4 cup | hard wedge grated at home holds up better than pre-shredded |
| Lemon juice | 2 tbsp | bottled is fine and does not bruise in a pack |
| Garlic | 1 clove, minced | or 1/4 tsp garlic powder |
| Salt and pepper | to taste | |
| Croutons | 1 cup | optional |
Method
- Shake the oil, lemon juice, parmesan, garlic, salt, and pepper together in a jar until it looks like one thing. Do this at home if you want fewer containers in camp.
- Halve the romaine hearts lengthwise through the core. The core is what holds the leaves together over the fire, so leave it on.
- Brush or drizzle oil on both cut sides.
- Set the grate over medium coals. Lay the halves cut side down for two to three minutes, then flip for the same.
- Pull them while the leaves still have snap. Past that they collapse into something wet and stringy.
- Drizzle the dressing over the warm halves and scatter croutons if you brought them.
Grilling lettuce sounds like a mistake until you do it. The heat pulls water out of the cut face and leaves a bit of smoke behind, which gives romaine something to say next to grilled meat. The core matters: cut through it, not around it, or you are chasing loose leaves across the grate.
The dressing is oil and acid rather than egg and mayonnaise, which is the whole reason this one belongs in camp. Nothing in the jar needs refrigeration, so it can be mixed at home a week out and ride in a pack pocket. The lettuce is the only cooler item, and it is the only thing that will not wait.
Packing
Mix the dressing at home into a small screw-top jar. Romaine hearts travel whole in the cooler, wrapped in a dry towel so they do not sit in meltwater.
Variations
- Anchovy paste or a splash of fish sauce in the dressing gets it closer to a real Caesar, but it is no longer vegetarian.
- Skip the parmesan and add a tablespoon of nutritional yeast for a dairy-free version.
- Leftover halves chopped into a wrap the next day work better than reheating them.
https://www.campkitchen.ca/recipe-index-1/rdgpe39n06slday349fpgdfwbk071q