Oven Roasted Romaine with Garlic & Lemon Dressing
- July 2, 2021
- Ashley Tyrner
Prep
10 mins
cook
7 mins
serves
6
It’s officially summer, which means our bodies are naturally gravitating towards more light, cooling, plant-based foods. With the hotter temperatures, it becomes easier and easier to desire lighter foods that are crisp, fresh, and ready-to-eat. FarmboxRx fresh produce delivery service offers all of your healthy, nutritious essentials to encourage you to be creative in the kitchen. Vegetables that you typically eat raw, take romaine lettuce for example, why not try roasting them? Always choosing to grill your favorite cruciferous veggies like broccoli or cauliflower, what about steaming them instead? And because it is the summertime, less is more when it comes to the complexity of recipes. After all, we want you to be able to prepare delicious recipes quickly and enjoy your foods in a relaxed setting, and in summertime-fashion, preferably with some loved ones around.
While one of the most familiar summer foods is certainly a classic salad recipe, we want to share an alternative twist on romaine with you today, one that ties in another classic summer indulgence. Grilling. And just in time for July 4th weekend! Did you know you can actually grill and roast your greens instead of always eating them raw? That’s right! Today’s recipe is going to teach you exactly how to do so, so that you can stay aligned with your health goals by eating more greens through using a popular summertime cooking technique. Although our recipe calls for using an oven, you can just as easily adopt this recipe to cook on a grill for an afternoon barbecue. It makes for a healthy alternative to heavy, grilled meats, which often contain excessive trans and saturated fats, and can lead to inflammation in the body. Roasting veggies, and especially lettuce, serves as a side dish and an easy way to incorporate more greens onto your plate.
Versatile vegetable
Aside from the nutritional benefits of romaine, which we’ll lay out down below, I am such a fan of this lettuce due to its versatility. Not to mention, because it’s an edible green plant, we can be sure that it is super healthy for the body. It has an incredibly high water content, that of 95%, making it a high-quality water source. This crunchy, hearty salad green offers a savory taste, while remaining very low in calories. When chopped fresh, it serves as the perfect base to a variety of salads because it balances crispiness and neutrality, and somehow also offers enough taste to want to enjoy over and over again in different variations. Romaine lettuce compliments most vegetables, dressings, and even fruits, for those of you that prefer a sweeter kick to your salads.
Outside of salads, romaine is delicious roasted, as today’s recipe showcases. It can also be served as a gluten-free, raw, plant-based wrap, or in place of hamburger buns for a protein-style burger. Blended, romaine makes for a tasty, light green soup or smoothie when paired with fruits. And it makes for a wonderful slaw. Talk about versatility! Not only versatile, but romaine lettuce actually carries several nutrients the body needs to thrive.
Just some of the nutrients in romaine lettuce include:
Vitamin C – Probably the most commonly known vitamin in relation to a boosted immune system, vitamin C is responsible for moving the immune cells to attack foreign invaders in the body.
Vitamin K – Helping with blood clotting and bone health, this vitamin promotes wound healing.
Vitamin A – Not only does it help maintain strong eye vision, alongside promoting the body’s growth and development, vitamin A is also an anti-inflammation vitamin due to its role in improving immune function.
Magnesium – This mineral plays an important role in regulating neurotransmitters, which may impact mood and how you deal with stress and/or anxiety symptoms.
Let’s talk more about this oven roasted romaine recipe! What makes this so yummy is actually what’s paired alongside it, the garlic and lemon. Lemon juice is one of the easiest dressings to use in general, because it brings out the earthiness of romaine and gives a citrusy, zesty flare to greens, and also because it mixes well with other flavors. Plus, it goes great on other roasted veggies and even on top of salads whenever you run out of traditional dressings. Both lemons and garlic are anti-inflammatory, may help lower bad cholesterol in the body, and help remove toxins. So eat up!
The tools you’ll need are super minimal to prepare this dish, just grab a knife, cutting board, baking sheet, small mixing bowl, and whisk and you’ll be good to go. As I mentioned before, the dressing is versatile and can be used in different recipes, so feel free to double the recipe as needed. Fresh ingredients will also be essential for fresh-tasting results, so we recommend using us to get your fresh fruits and vegetables delivered to your home. We offer a variety of box sizes and types to fit in with different budgets and home-sizes.
Now let’s jump right into this oven roasted romaine recipe. Be sure to try the recipe out for yourself and give us a tag at @FarmboxRx and make sure to use the hashtag #FarmboxRx #FarmboxLiving so that we can see how the recipe turns out!
Ingredients
3 heads romaine
1 large lemon
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp chives
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp pine nuts
⅛ tsp fresh ground black pepper
pinch of salt
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425º F.
- Halve romaine heads lengthwise, quarter lemon, and remove the skin from the garlic cloves. Lightly drizzle romaine with ½ tbsp of olive oil and arrange alongside the lemon and garlic on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 6-7 minutes, or until romaine is lightly charred. Remove from the oven and prepare garlic and lemon dressing.
- Finely chop chives, juice lemon, and mince garlic. Add chives, lemon juice, garlic, remaining olive oil, salt, and black pepper to a small bowl and whisk together.
- Serve romaine warm, top with pine nuts, and drizzle with dressing.
Oven Roasted Romaine with Garlic & Lemon Dressing
Print Recipe Pin RecipeEquipment
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
- 3 heads romaine
- 1 lemon large
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp chives
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 1/8 tsp black pepper freshly ground
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425º F.
- Halve romaine heads lengthwise, quarter lemon, and remove the skin from the garlic cloves. Lightly drizzle romaine with ½ tbsp of olive oil and arrange alongside the lemon and garlic on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 6-7 minutes, or until romaine is lightly charred. Remove from the oven and prepare garlic and lemon dressing.
- Finely chop chives, juice lemon, and mince garlic. Add chives, lemon juice, garlic, remaining olive oil, salt, and black pepper to a small bowl and whisk together.
- Serve romaine warm, top with pine nuts, and drizzle with dressing.