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Drawing from a popular New York eatery, the innovative technique turns usually thrown-out external lettuce greens into an smooth herbaceous “mayonnaise”. It’s an smart way to minimize leftovers while creating a condiment delicious and versatile.

The Reason Repurpose External Salad Leaves?

These outer greens are the plant’s natural packaging, guarding the tender inside lettuce. While recycling produce trimmings is a basic sustainable practice, discovering creative applications for these parts is additionally impactful. Converting excess food into fertile soil prevents landfill accumulation, where it may release methane, a powerful environmental issue.

It’s rather innovative if you think about it: produce decomposes and transforms into the perfect growing medium to feed further crops, thus completing this loop and honoring the cycle of life.

Yet, with over 30% extra produce being made compared to needed, using valuable resources wisely becomes essential. Reducing waste not only saves cash but also promotes a increasingly sustainable lifestyle.

This Herb-Infused Emulsion Method

The versatile recipe functions with whatever variety of lettuce and seeds. By incorporating one entire egg, you eliminate any need to repurpose an leftover white. The outcome is an creamy, nutty sauce that works perfectly with salads, grilled veggies, seared poultry, pasta, or grains.

Yields two

To Make the Herb Emulsion (Makes approximately 200 grams)

• 100g unsalted butter
• 50g external lettuce greens from two romaine or butter lettuce, rinsed and thoroughly dried
• 20g shelled salted pistachios – white nuts such as blanched almonds assist keep a vivid green, though any seeds will work
• One small entire egg

For the Salad

• 2 romaine or butter lettuces, halved longwise
• Extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
• Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, as desired
• One generous handful soft herbs (like chervil), sprigs left whole, stems finely minced

Steps

First preparing the mayonnaise. Heat the fat in one medium pot, add the external salad greens, place a lid and wilt for about 60 seconds, mixing once or twice, till they’ve softened. Pour this contents into a container of a stick processor, add the pistachios and egg, then process till creamy. If needed, incorporate more nuts to get the thick consistency. Store in an sealed jar in the fridge for as long as three days.

For prepare the salad, drizzle each lettuce portion with olive oil and lemon juice, then salt generously. Dress with a tight drizzle of the green emulsion, then top with the greens. Arrange on two dishes and serve immediately.