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Drawing from a popular NYC restaurant, this innovative method converts usually thrown-out external salad greens into an smooth herbaceous emulsion. It’s a ingenious approach to cut down on kitchen waste while producing something tasty and adaptable.

Why Repurpose External Salad Leaves?

These external leaves serve as nature’s natural wrapping, shielding the delicate inside leaves. While composting vegetable scraps is one basic zero-waste habit, discovering creative applications for them is even more impactful. Turning surplus food into rich soil avoids landfill buildup, where they may release methane, a powerful environmental concern.

It’s quite innovative if you think about it: food decomposes and becomes that ideal soil to feed more crops, thus closing this loop and honoring the process of life.

However, with more than 30% extra food getting produced compared to needed, using precious ingredients wisely becomes crucial. Reducing leftovers not only saves cash but also supports the more eco-friendly lifestyle.

The Green “Mayonnaise” Recipe

This versatile formula functions with any type of salad greens and nuts. By incorporating one entire egg, one eliminate the hassle to repurpose an leftover egg white. The result is an smooth, nutty dressing that works perfectly with greens, grilled vegetables, seared poultry, noodles, or rice.

Yields 2

For the Green Emulsion (Yields approximately 200g)

• 100g unsalted butter
• 50g external salad leaves from two little gems, washed and thoroughly dried
• 20 grams shelled salted nuts – light-colored seeds such as blanched almonds help keep a vivid green, but whatever seeds will do
• 1 medium whole egg

To Make the Side

• 2 little gem heads, halved lengthways
• Cold-pressed olive oil, to taste
• Fresh lime juice or apple cider vinegar, to taste
• One small bunch soft greens (like chervil), sprigs picked whole, stems thinly minced

Instructions

First preparing the mayonnaise. Melt the butter in one medium saucepan, add the outer lettuce leaves, cover and cook for about a minute, stirring once or twice, till they’ve softened. Pour the contents into a container of a stick processor, include the nuts and egg, then process until creamy. As necessary, add extra seeds to get the mayonnaise-like consistency. Keep in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to three days.

To assemble the dish, drizzle each lettuce portion with olive oil and lemon juice, then salt generously. Dress with one zigzag drizzle of the green mayonnaise, then scatter with the herbs. Arrange on two plates and serve immediately.