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Modeled after a popular New York restaurant, this groundbreaking technique turns often-discarded external salad greens into an luxurious herbaceous “mayonnaise”. This is a smart way to reduce food waste while making something tasty and flexible.

The Reason Repurpose External Lettuce Greens?

Those outer greens are nature’s natural packaging, guarding the tender inside leaves. Although recycling produce scraps is a basic sustainable practice, finding new applications for them is even more beneficial. Turning excess ingredients into rich soil prevents landfill buildup, where it may emit greenhouse gases, a potent climate issue.

This is rather innovative when you consider about it: food decomposes and transforms into the perfect soil to feed more plants, thus completing the loop and honoring the cycle of life.

Yet, with more than 30% surplus food being produced than required, using precious ingredients wisely is crucial. Reducing leftovers not only saves money but also promotes the more sustainable lifestyle.

The Herb-Infused “Mayonnaise” Method

The adaptable formula functions with any variety of lettuce and seeds. Through incorporating a whole egg, you eliminate any hassle to repurpose the extra egg white. This outcome is a smooth, nutty sauce that pairs beautifully with greens, roasted veggies, grilled poultry, pasta, or grains.

Yields two

To Make the Green Emulsion (Makes approximately 200 grams)

• 100g butter
• 50 grams external salad leaves of 2 little gems, washed and thoroughly dried
• 20g peeled roasted nuts – white seeds like cashews help keep a bright color, but any nuts can do
• 1 small entire egg

To Make the Side

• 2 little gem lettuces, halved lengthways
• Extra-virgin oil, to taste
• Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, to taste
• One generous handful soft greens (such as chervil), leaves left whole, stalks thinly minced

Instructions

First making the mayonnaise. Melt the fat in one medium pot, add the external lettuce greens, cover and wilt for approximately a minute, mixing a couple times, till they have wilted. Pour the contents into a jug of an immersion processor, add the pistachios and whole egg, then process till smooth. If needed, incorporate extra nuts to achieve a mayonnaise-like consistency. Keep in an sealed jar in the refrigerator for as long as 3 days.

To prepare the dish, sprinkle each lettuce half with olive oil and lemon juice, then season generously. Dress with one tight drizzle of the herb emulsion, then scatter with the herbs. Arrange on 2 plates and enjoy immediately.