🔗 Share this article

Inspired by a popular NYC restaurant, the creative technique transforms typically wasted outer lettuce greens into an smooth green emulsion. It’s a ingenious approach to reduce leftovers while producing a condiment delicious and versatile.

Why Use External Salad Greens?

Those outer leaves serve as the plant’s natural wrapping, guarding the tender inside lettuce. While recycling produce trimmings is one basic zero-waste habit, discovering creative uses for them is additionally impactful. Turning excess ingredients into fertile soil avoids landfill accumulation, where it may emit greenhouse gases, which is a powerful environmental concern.

This is quite radical when you think over it: produce decomposes and transforms into that ideal soil to nourish further plants, thereby closing the cycle and honoring the process of growth.

However, with over thirty percent extra food getting produced compared to required, using precious ingredients efficiently is essential. Reducing leftovers not only conserves cash but also promotes the increasingly eco-friendly way of living.

This Green “Mayonnaise” Method

The adaptable recipe functions with any type of lettuce and seeds. By incorporating a entire egg, one avoid the need to repurpose the leftover egg white. The outcome is an smooth, rich dressing that pairs perfectly with greens, grilled veggies, grilled chicken, pasta, or rice.

Yields two

To Make the Herb Emulsion (Makes about 200g)

• 100 grams butter
• 50g outer lettuce leaves from 2 little gems, washed and dried
• 20 grams peeled roasted nuts – light-colored seeds like blanched almonds assist maintain the bright color, but whatever seeds can work
• 1 small whole egg

For the Side

• Two little gem heads, halved longwise
• Cold-pressed oil, to taste
• Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, to taste
• One small handful soft herbs (like dill), leaves picked intact, stalks finely minced

Steps

First making the emulsion. Melt the fat in one medium pot, toss in the external lettuce leaves, place a lid and wilt for about a minute, mixing a couple times, until they’ve wilted. Transfer the mixture into a jug of an immersion processor, add the nuts and whole egg, then process until smooth. As necessary, incorporate more nuts to get a mayonnaise-like consistency. Keep in an sealed container in the fridge for as long as 3 days.

For prepare the salad, drizzle each lettuce portion with olive oil and acid, then salt generously. Dress with a tight pattern of the herb mayonnaise, then scatter with the greens. Arrange on two plates and serve immediately.