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Modeled after a popular New York restaurant, this creative technique turns usually thrown-out external lettuce greens into a luxurious herbaceous “mayonnaise”. This is a ingenious way to minimize kitchen waste while making something tasty and adaptable.

Why Use Outer Salad Greens?

Those outer greens are the plant’s natural wrapping, shielding the tender inside leaves. Although recycling vegetable scraps is one basic sustainable practice, finding new applications for them is even more beneficial. Turning surplus ingredients into fertile soil avoids dump buildup, where it can emit methane, which is a powerful climate issue.

This is rather radical when you think over it: food rots and becomes the ideal growing medium to feed more plants, thereby completing the loop and respecting the cycle of growth.

Yet, given over 30% surplus food being made compared to required, consuming precious ingredients wisely is crucial. Minimizing leftovers not only conserves money but also supports the more sustainable lifestyle.

This Green Emulsion Method

This versatile recipe functions with whatever variety of lettuce and nuts. By using a whole egg, you avoid any hassle to use up an leftover white. The result is an smooth, nutty sauce that works perfectly with greens, roasted vegetables, grilled chicken, noodles, or grains.

Serves two

For the Herb Emulsion (Makes about 200 grams)

• 100g unsalted butter
• 50 grams outer lettuce leaves of 2 romaine or butter lettuce, washed and dried
• 20g peeled salted nuts – light-colored nuts such as cashews assist keep the vivid green, but whatever seeds will do
• One small entire egg

To Make the Side

• 2 little gem heads, split lengthways
• Extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
• Lemon juice or white-wine vinegar, as desired
• One small handful fresh herbs (such as chives), sprigs left intact, stems finely chopped

Steps

First preparing the emulsion. Melt the fat in one medium saucepan, add the outer lettuce leaves, place a lid and wilt for approximately a minute, mixing once or twice, until they have softened. Transfer this mixture into the container of a immersion blender, include the nuts and whole egg, then process till creamy. As necessary, incorporate extra nuts to get a thick texture. Keep in an sealed container in the fridge for as long as 3 days.

To prepare the dish, drizzle each gem half with oil and lemon juice, then salt generously. Dress with a zigzag pattern of the green emulsion, then top with the herbs. Arrange on two dishes and enjoy immediately.