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The thing about living in a temperate climate region is that when summer comes along, it can get unbearably hot and uncomfortable especially when your window can only open less than 45 degrees (!). My husband says it’s because the houses need to keep cold out more than heat, but for this gal who has lived most of her life in tropical Singapore with open circulation housing, it just feels suffocating somehow.
So it’s times like these that cooking appeals less to me and no cook meals beckon invitingly. Especially fresh green salads. However, with no cook meals like salads, it can get pretty tricky convincing my almost 2 year old son to eat, at the age when leafy greens appeal less to the developing palate. I have lost count of the number of times he had rejected leafy greens, but patiently continue offering him some whenever I prepare salad. Do you get that issue as well?
This time around, the challenge was to make a salad-based no-cook dish that my son would enjoy and not reject. I had some romaine lettuce and wondered if he would accept it in a different form factor. Bite size chunks? Naaah. Noodles? Bingo! I sliced the romaine lettuce into fettucine-like strips and proceeded to make a sauce. It had to be creamy. Avocados came to the rescue.
My almost 4 year old son asked what was for dinner, and I told him ‘romaine lettuce noodles’. He went: ‘Noodles!’ and his eyes brightened. When it was time to eat, he looked at his plate and asked me: ‘Mama, where are the noodles?’ I replied to him: ‘In the dish, the romaine lettuce are noodles. There’s no pasta in there.’
He went: ‘Oh okay!’ and proceeded to eat with gusto. I looked over at my youngest son. He had finished his first portion and was holding out his plate and going ‘More? More!’
It’s not a particularly attractive dish, but if everyone enjoyed it and had multiple servings, I would say it’s a keeper.
Where to get certain ingredients online:
What’s your most unusual way of serving vegetables?
- FOR THE NOODLES
- 1 large romaine lettuce
- 1 large carrot
- 1 cup frozen green peas (AIP Reintroduction food, optional)
- FOR THE ALFREDO SAUCE
- Flesh from 2 small avocados
- ¼ cup + 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp capers
- Juice from 1 orange
- Juice from ½ lemon
- 1 tbs nutritional yeast flakes
- FOR THE SALMON TOPPING
- About ½ lb or 200g smoked salmon
- Juice from ½ lemon
- About ¼ lb or 125g/ 1 small punnet blackberries
- Peel and shred the carrot into long strips
- Remove the base of the romaine lettuce and cut the lettuce leaves lengthwise into long thin strips
- Mix both ingredients in a large bowl
- Cook the frozen green peas according to the cooking instructions on the package and add to the romaine lettuce and carrot mixture
- In a food processor, combine the avocado flesh, olive oil, fish sauce, capers, orange juice, lemon juice and nutritional yeast flakes
- Process until a relatively smooth and thick sauce is formed (adjust to taste with extra olive oil, fish sauce, if necessary), then set aside
- Slice the smoked salmon into long and thin strips
- Mix the julce from ½ a lemon with the smoked salmon strips
- Toss the romaine lettuce and carrot noodles with the avocado sauce to coat evenly, followed by the marinated smoked salmon and blackberries
- Season with sea salt to taste, if necessary
- Serve immediately
