Recipe(tried): Cooked romaine

Hi Ruth - I'm not certain whether you are looking for another technique or a more interesting way to serve it, so I'll mention a couple of ideas that I know of.

I first saw this in an old Lorenza de'Medici cookbook (I'm not from an Italian background, so cooked lettuce was a novelty to me), and her method is to blanch it in salted boiling water for 1 minute, then plunge into ice water, then dry on a towel. Afterward, she sautes it in butter (not olive oil, which is interesting). It is then served as an open faced sandwich, where proscuitto is layed on thick, toasted Italian bread, then topped with the sauteed lettuce, then topped with a slice of fontina or Swiss cheese. It is baked in a very hot oven for about 5 minutes, until the cheese melts.

I make this for weekend lunch and an easy weekday dinner, though I use escarole instead of romaine, and saute it in olive oil and garlic, then add a little water and cover to braise until softened, then proceed with the sandwhich assembly.

I recently saw Mario Batali make a dish after blanching escarole (though romaine would have to work just as well) that I want to try. He stuffed the inside with a mixture of cheese, breadcrumbs, garlic, raisins and anchovies (or something close to that), tied it closed, and braised it. Looked very good.

I hope that this is the sort of info you were looking for!