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Modeled after a well-known New York eatery, the creative method converts typically wasted outer lettuce leaves into a velvety green “mayonnaise”. It’s an brilliant way to minimize kitchen waste while creating something tasty and versatile.

Why Use Outer Salad Leaves?

These external greens serve as nature’s natural packaging, shielding the delicate inner lettuce. While recycling vegetable trimmings is one fundamental zero-waste habit, finding creative applications for these parts is even more beneficial. Converting surplus ingredients into rich soil avoids landfill accumulation, where it can emit greenhouse gases, a powerful environmental issue.

This is rather radical if you consider over it: food rots and transforms into that perfect growing medium to feed further crops, thus completing this cycle and respecting nature’s cycle of life.

However, with over thirty percent surplus produce being produced than needed, consuming valuable ingredients wisely is essential. Reducing waste not only conserves cash but also supports the more sustainable way of living.

This Green Emulsion Recipe

The adaptable formula functions with whatever type of salad greens and seeds. By incorporating one whole egg, you eliminate any need to repurpose an leftover egg white. The outcome is an creamy, rich dressing that pairs perfectly with salads, grilled vegetables, seared poultry, pasta, or rice.

Yields 2

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

• 100g butter
• 50 grams external lettuce leaves from 2 romaine or butter lettuce, rinsed and thoroughly dried
• 20 grams shelled roasted nuts – white nuts such as pine nuts assist keep a bright green, but whatever nuts will do
• 1 small whole egg

For the Salad

• 2 little gem lettuces, halved longwise
• Extra-virgin oil, to taste
• Fresh lime juice or white-wine vinegar, to taste
• One generous bunch soft greens (such as parsley), leaves picked whole, stalks thinly chopped

Instructions

Begin by making the emulsion. Heat the fat in a medium pot, add the external lettuce greens, cover and cook for about 60 seconds, mixing a couple times, till they’ve wilted. Pour the mixture into a container of an stick processor, add the nuts and egg, then blend till creamy. As necessary, add more seeds to get the mayonnaise-like texture. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for as long as three days.

For assemble the dish, sprinkle each lettuce portion with oil and acid, then salt liberally. Coat with one zigzag pattern of the green mayonnaise, then top with the herbs. Arrange on two dishes and enjoy immediately.