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Drawing from a well-known NYC eatery, this creative technique turns often-discarded outer lettuce greens into an luxurious green “mayonnaise”. It’s a ingenious way to reduce leftovers while producing a condiment delicious and flexible.

Why Use External Salad Greens?

Those outer leaves are nature’s natural wrapping, guarding the tender inside leaves. While recycling produce trimmings is a fundamental zero-waste practice, discovering creative applications for these parts is even more impactful. Turning excess ingredients into fertile soil prevents dump buildup, where it may emit greenhouse gases, which is a potent environmental issue.

This is rather radical when you think over it: food rots and transforms into the perfect soil to feed more crops, thereby completing the cycle and honoring the cycle of life.

Yet, given over thirty percent extra food getting produced than required, consuming valuable resources efficiently is crucial. Reducing leftovers not only conserves money but also promotes the increasingly eco-friendly lifestyle.

This Herb-Infused Emulsion Recipe

This versatile recipe works with whatever variety of salad greens and seeds. Through using one entire egg, you eliminate any hassle to use up the extra egg white. The outcome is a smooth, nutty sauce that pairs perfectly with salads, roasted vegetables, seared chicken, pasta, or rice.

Serves 2

For the Green Emulsion (Makes approximately 200 grams)

• 100 grams unsalted butter
• 50 grams external salad greens of 2 romaine or butter lettuce, rinsed and dried
• 20 grams peeled roasted nuts – white nuts such as pine nuts assist maintain a vivid color, but any seeds can work
• 1 medium entire egg

To Make the Side

• Two romaine or butter lettuces, split longwise
• Extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
• Lemon juice or white-wine vinegar, to taste
• 1 generous handful soft greens (like dill), leaves picked intact, stalks thinly minced

Steps

First making the mayonnaise. Heat the fat in one small saucepan, toss in the outer salad greens, cover and cook for approximately a minute, stirring once or twice, till they have wilted. Transfer the contents into the jug of a stick blender, add the nuts and egg, then blend until creamy. If needed, add extra nuts to get a thick consistency. Store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for as long as three days.

To prepare the salad, sprinkle each gem portion with oil and lemon juice, then season liberally. Coat with a tight drizzle of the herb mayonnaise, then scatter with the herbs. Arrange on two dishes and serve right away.