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Recipe

A Bite To Eat With Alice: Grilled cos salad with almonds and wholegrain mustard

Prep time: 
15
Cook time: 
15
Skill level: 
Low
Serves: 
4
Grilled cos lettuce salad with mustard dressing and toasted almonds, served on a green leaf-shaped plate.

Why grill lettuce? ‘Cos’ it makes for a delicious salad! Lettuce show you how. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Alice Zaslavsky is the host of A Bite To Eat with Alice, weeknights at 5pm on ABC TV and anytime on ABC iview. Alice is the resident culinary correspondent for ABC News Breakfast and ABC Radio, a food literacy advocate, bestselling cookbook author, and creator of Phenomenom, a free digital toolbox helping teachers slip more serves of veg into the curriculum.

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Alice knows that when someone calls themselves a two-salad gal and admits they're in a salad slump, it's a challenge worth accepting. 

Fresh cos lettuce, lemons, olive oil, and a wooden cutting board—simple ingredients for a grilled salad.

Humble, everyday ingredients come together to create something unexpectedly delicious. Simple, fresh, and full of flavour. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Before Nina Oyama even arrives, Alice is already at work, whipping up a salad that's simple yet packed with flavour-filled smoky, charred lettuce, caramelised lemon and a punchy dressing. 

Caramelised grilled lemons on a rustic wooden cutting board, adding smoky depth to any dish.

Golden, smoky, and full of flavour. Caramelised grilled lemons take any dressing to the next level (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

It's proof that a great salad doesn’t need to be complicated — just a few quality ingredients and a little heat can transform the ordinary into something irresistible.

Fresh cos lettuce halves in a cast iron pan, ready to be grilled for a smoky, charred salad.

A humble ingredient, transformed. Grilling cos lettuce brings out its smoky, charred depth while keeping it crisp and fresh. (ABC TV: Wesley Mitton)

Tips

  • This salad can be made on a BBQ for extra smoky flavour.
  • Char the lemons well until caramelised to bring out a deep, tangy sweetness.
  • Swap parsley for any soft herb like basil, coriander, or dill.
  • Use leftover lemon halves to clean your grill or BBQ — a natural, citrus-fresh way to remove residue.
  • Pre-make your dressing if taking this salad to a BBQ, for easy serving.
  • Make your dressing in a jar for effortless shaking, mixing, and transport.

Here’s the full list of recipes from Season 2 of A Bite To Eat With Alice.

This recipe appears in A Bite to Eat with Alice, a new nightly cooking show on ABC iview and weeknights at 5pm on ABC TV.

A Bite To Eat With Alice: Grilled cos salad with almonds and wholegrain mustard

Prep time: 
15
Cook time: 
15
Skill level: 
Low
Serves: 
4

Ingredients

Salad

  • 2 lemons, halved 
  • 2 heads cos lettuce 
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 
  • salt flakes, to season 
  • freshly-ground black pepper, to season 
  • 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard 
  • 1 tablespoon finely-chopped parsley 
  • ½ teaspoon ground chili  
  • ¼ cup slivered almonds, toasted 

Method

  1. Preheat a grill-plate or BBQ to medium-high.  
  2. Cook the lemon halves on the flesh-side only, until dark and caramel in colour. Remove and set aside to cool slightly.  
  3. Cut the lettuce in half lengthways and, using a pastry brush (or fingers), cover the surface of the lettuce with ½ tablespoon of olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. 
  4. Place the lettuce cut-side down on the grill-plate or BBQ and grill for 2—3 minutes, flip the lettuce over to cook for a further 2 minutes.  
  5. While the lettuce is grilling, make the dressing by squeezing the juice from the grilled lemon through a strainer into a small bowl. Then, add the remaining extra virgin olive oil, wholegrain mustard, parsley and mix to combine. 
  6. To serve, use a spatula to lift and transfer the lettuce to a serving plate. Drizzle the dressing over the lettuce, then scatter with dried chili and almonds. 
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