🔗 Share this article

Drawing from a well-known NYC eatery, the groundbreaking technique transforms typically wasted external salad leaves into an luxurious herbaceous “mayonnaise”. This is an smart approach to cut down on food waste while making something delicious and adaptable.

Why Repurpose External Lettuce Greens?

Those outer greens serve as the plant’s natural packaging, guarding the delicate inside lettuce. While composting produce scraps is one fundamental sustainable practice, finding new uses for them is even more beneficial. Turning surplus food into fertile soil avoids dump accumulation, where it can emit methane, which is a powerful climate concern.

This is rather radical when you consider about it: produce decomposes and becomes the perfect soil to feed more crops, thus completing this loop and honoring nature’s cycle of life.

Yet, given more than 30% surplus produce getting made than required, consuming precious resources efficiently is crucial. Reducing leftovers not only conserves cash but also supports a increasingly sustainable way of living.

The Herb-Infused “Mayonnaise” Method

This versatile recipe works with whatever type of salad greens and nuts. Through incorporating a entire egg, one eliminate any hassle to use up the leftover white. The outcome is a creamy, nutty dressing that pairs beautifully with greens, grilled veggies, seared chicken, noodles, or rice.

Serves two

For the Herb “Mayonnaise” (Makes approximately 200 grams)

• 100g unsalted butter
• 50 grams external salad leaves of two little gems, washed and thoroughly dried
• 20 grams peeled salted nuts – light-colored nuts such as blanched almonds help keep a vivid green, but whatever seeds can work
• 1 small entire egg

To Make the Side

• Two little gem lettuces, halved lengthways
• Cold-pressed oil, to taste
• Fresh lime juice or apple cider vinegar, as desired
• 1 small bunch fresh greens (such as chives), sprigs left intact, stalks finely minced

Instructions

First making the emulsion. Melt the butter in one small pot, toss in the external salad greens, place a lid and cook for approximately a minute, stirring once or twice, till they’ve softened. Pour this mixture into a container of a stick blender, include the nuts and whole egg, then process until creamy. As necessary, incorporate extra nuts to achieve the mayonnaise-like texture. Store in a airtight jar in the fridge for as long as 3 days.

For prepare the salad, sprinkle each gem half with oil and lemon juice, then salt generously. Coat with a zigzag drizzle of the green emulsion, then scatter with the herbs. Arrange on 2 plates and enjoy right away.