Braised baby gem, peas, speck and crème fraîche

• Produce

  • 2 cloves Garlic
  • 2 tbsp Parsley
  • 150 g Peas, fresh

• Canned Goods

  • 200 ml Chicken stock

• Baking & Spices

  • 1 River salt and black pepper

• Oils & Vinegars

  • 1 splash Oil

• Bread & Baked Goods

  • 3 Baby gem

• Dairy

  • 30 g Butter
  • 50 g Creme fraiche

• Other

  • 4 Medium eschalots, finely sliced
  • 80 g Italian speck, chopped into matchstick-size batons

Found on nonnascooking.com

Description

Directions

• You will need a pan or shallow pot wide enough to hold the baby gems in one layer. Place it on a low heat with a splash of oil and the speck. As the pan heats the speck will warm through and the fat will render off. Once it starts to sizzle add in the eschalots, a little seasoning and continue stirring for another 2 minutes. Add the garlic and keep stirring. 
• Once everything has softened, throw in the butter followed by the baby gems. Place them in on one of the cut sides and turn the heat up to high with the aim to get a little colour. Once you have colour on one of the cut sides, repeat with the other cut side.
• Once you are satisfied with the colour, turn the lettuces over so they are laying on their backs, add in the chicken stock and reduce the heat to low, spooning some of the stock over the baby gems every now and again. Let this all simmer for 5 minutes at which stage your lettuce should be nicely softened. 
• Add in the peas and give them a minute or so to mingle and warm and have a taste for seasoning.
• To serve, gently scoop out the baby gem pieces and lay them on a plate. Add the crème fraiche to the pea mixture left in the pot and give it a good stir to combine. Take it off the heat, add in the parsley and then spoon all of this mix over the lettuce. Finish with a generous drizzle of oil and a good turn of black pepper.
• Cook’s tip
• • Baby gem is almost like a small cos lettuce, but with much firmer and denser heads. Cos can be substituted however the cooking time will be far less. And it is more than acceptable to use frozen peas in this recipe. 
• Aki salad servers from Country Road. Large Piazza platter from Papaya.
• For a taste of O Tama Carey’s cooking, visit her at Berta restaurant in Sydney. Like Berta on Facebook, and follow the restaurant on Twitter and Instagram.
• Read our interview with Tama. This recipe is from our online column, The Seasonal Cook: lettuce. View previous The Seasonal Cook columns and recipes.