lettuce salad

A little salty, a little sweet, and packed with sesame flavour, this sauce - and it’s really more of a sauce than a dressing in consistency - punches well, well, well above its weight for such a short list of basic ingredients. One mouthful and you’ll be forever hooked! Drizzle over lettuce, as is traditional, or just use for dunking raw vegetables (I do this a LOT). This is a copycat of a side salad at some of our favourite Sydney Sichuan restaurants like Spicy Joint, and Chongqing Noodles.

Spicy Joint's Creamy Sesame Sauce with Lettuce Salad

tbsp Chinese sesame paste ((Note 1))

peanut butter ((Note 2))

tsp white sugar

tsp salt

tbsp oyster sauce ((Note 3))

tbsp sesame oil (, toasted (ie brown, not yellow))

tsp dark soy sauce ((Note 4))

water ((or more))

baby cos lettuce

sesame seeds

Separate, wash, trim and dry lettuce leaves. Slice any large ones in half vertically. Leave smaller leaves whole.

Sauce: Mix all ingredients except water together in a bowl. Start by mixing in 3 tbsp water, a tablespoon at a time. Let the sauce sit for one minute. If the sauce starts to split, or the sauce is too thick, add another tablespoon of water. Keep doing this until you have a pourable / drizzle-able sauce that is emulsified (ie. oil is not separated).

Arrange leaves on platter, drizzle around half of the dressing over or so. You will NOT need all the dressing; keep the rest for something else. Garnish with sesame seeds. (Alternative: just use to dip in raw veg. It is SO good!)

This is an edited extract from Always Add Lemon by Danielle Alvarez (Hardie Grant, $50). Photography © Benito Martin and Jess Johnson.

Iceberg with dried oregano dressing and creamy sheep's milk cheese recipe

iceberg lettuces, outer leaves

chives, snipped

dill, fronds picked

creamy sheep’s milk feta

thinly sliced eschalot

vinegar

salt

1/ 2 tsp dried oregano

olive oil

https://resources.newscdn.com.au/cs/video/vjs/stable/build/index.html?id=5348771529001-5981817188001&=domain=del

5348771529001-5981817188001

“I like to cook this with bone-in cutlets and then, once the chook is done and rested, I cut the bone out and slice the meat. If you find this a little daunting, ask the butcher to debone the cutlets for you first, or use thigh fillets. Thighs are forgiving (not mine, mind you); you’ll just need to reduce the cooking time as explained below.” This is an edited extract from Every Night of the Week by Lucy Tweed. Photography by Lucy Tweed. (Murdoch Books, $35).

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