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Drawing from a well-known New York restaurant, the groundbreaking technique converts usually thrown-out outer salad leaves into a velvety herbaceous “mayonnaise”. It’s a ingenious approach to minimize food waste while producing something flavorful and flexible.

The Reason Repurpose External Lettuce Leaves?

These external leaves are nature’s natural wrapping, shielding the delicate inner leaves. Although composting vegetable trimmings is a fundamental zero-waste habit, discovering creative applications for them is even more impactful. Converting surplus food into fertile soil prevents landfill accumulation, where it can emit methane, a powerful environmental issue.

It’s quite innovative if you think over it: food rots and transforms into the ideal soil to feed further crops, thereby closing this loop and respecting the process of growth.

However, with more than thirty percent extra produce being produced than required, using valuable ingredients wisely is essential. Minimizing leftovers not only conserves cash but also promotes the more sustainable way of living.

The Herb-Infused Emulsion Recipe

The versatile recipe works with any type of salad greens and nuts. By using one entire egg, one eliminate any need to use up the leftover white. The result is a smooth, nutty sauce that works beautifully with salads, grilled veggies, grilled chicken, pasta, or grains.

Yields 2

For the Herb Emulsion (Yields about 200g)

• 100g unsalted butter
• 50g external salad leaves of two romaine or butter lettuce, washed and thoroughly dried
• 20g peeled salted nuts – light-colored seeds like blanched almonds help keep the bright color, but whatever seeds can work
• 1 small whole egg

For the Side

• Two romaine or butter lettuces, halved longwise
• Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
• Lemon juice or white-wine vinegar, as desired
• 1 small handful fresh herbs (such as dill), leaves picked intact, stems thinly minced

Steps

Begin by making the mayonnaise. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, add the external lettuce greens, cover and wilt for about a minute, mixing once or twice, till they’ve softened. Transfer this mixture into the jug of a stick processor, add the nuts and egg, then process till creamy. As necessary, incorporate extra nuts to achieve the mayonnaise-like consistency. Store in an sealed container in the fridge for up to three days.

For assemble the salad, drizzle each gem half with olive oil and acid, then salt liberally. Dress with a tight drizzle of the green mayonnaise, then scatter with the herbs. Arrange on 2 plates and serve immediately.