A light summer side dish: Grilled salad hearts

A restaurant and bakery on the right bank of the Vltava

On the right bank of the Vltava River, we cook without frills, bake crispy sourdough bread, and serve honestly treated beer. We process whole animals, from snout to tail—under the watchful eye of chef Honza Všetečka. The kitchen meets the bakery here: we fry sourdough, recycle yesterday's bread, and aren't afraid to experiment. We've earned a Bib Gourmand award from the Michelin inspectors.

Come and taste!

At first glance, it would seem that it's easy to prepare the perfect salad. But the reality is that in many places you still get a few lettuce leaves with a few pieces of tomato and a dubious dressing. Fortunately, this is not the case at U Kalendů, where they have elevated the salad to a true symphony of flavour. Prepare their unmistakable grilled salad hearts with pistachios and chive emulsion and see for yourself.

For one serving you need:

• 20 g chive mayonnaise
• 20 ml honey-lemon dressing
• 1 little gem lettuce
• crushed pistachios to taste
• chives, dill and chervil for garnish

Chive mayonnaise:

1. Put 15 g chopped chives and 100 ml sunflower oil in a thermomix and heat to 70 degrees. Stir in the chives and heat to 100°C. This will give you the green oil which is the base of the chive mayonnaise.
2. Combine 10 g of egg yolks, salt, pepper and a teaspoon of full-fat mustard with about 100 ml of green oil to make the mayonnaise.

Honey-lemon dressing:

In a bowl, whisk together 40 g olive oil, 20 g lemon juice and 20 g honey.

Procedure:

1. Cut the salad hearts in half and rub with a little oil, salt and pepper. Place them on the grill, inside out, and grill until golden brown.
2. After grilling, season them with the honey-lemon dressing, letting it soak in perfectly.
3. Drizzle with chive mayonnaise, sprinkle with crushed pistachios and garnish with a mixture of chopped herbs.