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Drawing from a popular New York eatery, the groundbreaking technique converts usually thrown-out external lettuce leaves into an smooth herbaceous “mayonnaise”. It’s an ingenious approach to reduce leftovers while making a condiment delicious and adaptable.

Why Use External Salad Greens?

Those external greens are the plant’s protective wrapping, shielding the delicate inner leaves. Although recycling produce scraps is a basic zero-waste practice, finding creative uses for these parts is even more impactful. Converting excess ingredients into rich soil prevents landfill buildup, where they can release greenhouse gases, a powerful environmental concern.

It’s quite innovative when you think over it: produce rots and transforms into that ideal growing medium to feed more plants, thereby completing this cycle and honoring the cycle of life.

Yet, given more than thirty percent extra produce getting produced than required, using valuable ingredients efficiently becomes essential. Reducing waste not only saves cash but also supports the increasingly eco-friendly lifestyle.

This Green “Mayonnaise” Method

The adaptable recipe works with whatever variety of lettuce and seeds. Through using a whole egg, one eliminate the need to use up the extra egg white. This outcome is a creamy, nutty dressing that pairs beautifully with salads, grilled vegetables, grilled chicken, noodles, or grains.

Serves two

To Make the Green Emulsion (Yields approximately 200 grams)

• 100g unsalted butter
• 50g outer salad leaves from two romaine or butter lettuce, washed and dried
• 20g shelled salted pistachios – white seeds like pine nuts assist maintain the vivid green, though whatever nuts will do
• 1 small entire egg

To Make the Salad

• Two romaine or butter lettuces, split longwise
• Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
• Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, to taste
• One generous bunch soft herbs (such as chervil), leaves picked intact, stalks thinly minced

Instructions

First making the mayonnaise. Melt the fat in one medium saucepan, add the outer lettuce greens, cover and cook for about 60 seconds, stirring a couple times, till they’ve softened. Pour the mixture into a jug of a immersion blender, add the nuts and whole egg, then process until smooth. As necessary, incorporate extra nuts to get the mayonnaise-like consistency. Store in a airtight jar in the fridge for up to three days.

For assemble the dish, drizzle each lettuce portion with oil and lemon juice, then salt generously. Dress with one tight pattern of the green emulsion, then scatter with the herbs. Arrange on 2 plates and enjoy right away.