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Drawing from a popular New York eatery, this creative technique converts usually thrown-out external lettuce leaves into a luxurious herbaceous emulsion. It’s a ingenious approach to cut down on food waste while making something tasty and versatile.

Why Repurpose External Lettuce Greens?

These external greens are the plant’s protective wrapping, shielding the tender inside lettuce. Although composting produce trimmings is a fundamental zero-waste habit, discovering creative uses for these parts is even more impactful. Converting excess food into fertile compost avoids landfill accumulation, where it can emit methane, which is a potent environmental issue.

This is rather innovative if you think about it: food rots and transforms into that ideal growing medium to feed more crops, thereby closing this cycle and honoring the process of life.

However, with over 30% surplus food getting produced than required, using precious resources efficiently is essential. Reducing leftovers not only saves cash but also promotes the increasingly sustainable lifestyle.

This Herb-Infused Emulsion Recipe

This adaptable formula works with any type of salad greens and seeds. By incorporating one whole egg, you avoid the need to use up an extra white. The outcome is an creamy, nutty dressing that pairs beautifully with greens, roasted vegetables, grilled poultry, noodles, or grains.

Serves 2

To Make the Herb “Mayonnaise” (Yields about 200 grams)

• 100g butter
• 50 grams outer lettuce leaves of two romaine or butter lettuce, washed and thoroughly dried
• 20g peeled salted nuts – light-colored nuts like cashews help maintain a bright color, though any nuts can work
• 1 small whole egg

For the Salad

• Two little gem lettuces, split longwise
• Cold-pressed oil, to taste
• Fresh lime juice or apple cider vinegar, as desired
• One small bunch fresh greens (like parsley), sprigs left whole, stems finely chopped

Steps

First preparing the emulsion. Heat the fat in a medium pot, add the outer lettuce greens, place a lid and wilt for about 60 seconds, stirring a couple times, until they’ve wilted. Transfer this mixture into a jug of an stick processor, include the nuts and whole egg, then process until creamy. If needed, incorporate extra nuts to achieve the mayonnaise-like texture. Store in a airtight container in the refrigerator for as long as 3 days.

To assemble the dish, sprinkle each gem half with oil and lemon juice, then salt liberally. Coat with one tight pattern of the green mayonnaise, then scatter with the greens. Arrange on two dishes and enjoy immediately.