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Drawing from an acclaimed NYC restaurant, this creative method turns typically wasted outer salad leaves into a velvety green “mayonnaise”. It’s an ingenious approach to minimize food waste while making something flavorful and adaptable.

Why Use Outer Salad Leaves?

Those outer leaves are the plant’s protective packaging, shielding the delicate inside leaves. While composting produce scraps is a fundamental sustainable habit, discovering creative applications for them is additionally beneficial. Converting excess food into rich soil prevents landfill accumulation, where it can release methane, which is a powerful environmental concern.

It’s rather radical when you think about it: produce rots and becomes the perfect growing medium to nourish more plants, thus completing this cycle and honoring the cycle of life.

However, with over thirty percent extra food being made than needed, consuming valuable resources efficiently becomes crucial. Reducing waste not only conserves cash but also supports a increasingly eco-friendly lifestyle.

This Green “Mayonnaise” Method

The versatile recipe functions with any type of lettuce and nuts. Through incorporating one entire egg, one eliminate the hassle to repurpose an extra white. The outcome is a creamy, nutty dressing that works beautifully with greens, grilled vegetables, grilled chicken, pasta, or grains.

Serves 2

To Make the Green Emulsion (Makes approximately 200 grams)

• 100 grams butter
• 50g external lettuce greens of 2 little gems, washed and dried
• 20g shelled roasted nuts – white seeds like pine nuts assist maintain the vivid green, but any seeds can do
• One small whole egg

To Make the Side

• 2 romaine or butter lettuces, split lengthways
• Cold-pressed olive oil, as needed
• Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, as desired
• One small bunch fresh greens (like parsley), leaves left whole, stems thinly minced

Instructions

First preparing the emulsion. Melt the fat in one small pot, toss in the external salad leaves, cover and cook for approximately 60 seconds, mixing once or twice, until they have wilted. Transfer the mixture into a jug of a immersion processor, add the nuts and whole egg, then blend until creamy. If needed, add extra nuts to get the mayonnaise-like texture. Keep in an airtight jar in the fridge for as long as 3 days.

For prepare the dish, drizzle each lettuce half with olive oil and acid, then season liberally. Coat with a zigzag drizzle of the herb emulsion, then scatter with the herbs. Place on 2 plates and serve immediately.