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Drawing from a popular NYC restaurant, this innovative technique transforms often-discarded outer lettuce leaves into an luxurious herbaceous “mayonnaise”. It’s a smart approach to minimize leftovers while making something tasty and flexible.

The Reason Use Outer Lettuce Greens?

These external greens are the plant’s protective packaging, guarding the tender inner leaves. While recycling vegetable scraps is a fundamental zero-waste practice, finding creative applications for them is additionally impactful. Turning excess food into rich compost prevents dump buildup, where they may release greenhouse gases, which is a powerful climate issue.

It’s quite radical when you consider over it: food rots and becomes the ideal soil to feed further crops, thus closing the cycle and respecting nature’s cycle of life.

Yet, given more than thirty percent extra food being produced than needed, using precious resources efficiently is crucial. Minimizing leftovers not only conserves money but also supports the increasingly sustainable way of living.

The Herb-Infused “Mayonnaise” Recipe

This versatile formula works with any variety of lettuce and nuts. By using a whole egg, you avoid any hassle to use up an extra egg white. This outcome is an smooth, nutty dressing that works beautifully with salads, grilled vegetables, grilled poultry, noodles, or rice.

Serves two

For the Green Emulsion (Yields about 200g)

• 100 grams unsalted butter
• 50g outer salad leaves of two romaine or butter lettuce, rinsed and thoroughly dried
• 20g peeled roasted nuts – white seeds like cashews help keep a bright green, though any seeds can work
• One medium entire egg

For the Side

• 2 romaine or butter heads, split lengthways
• Cold-pressed oil, as needed
• Fresh lime juice or white-wine vinegar, as desired
• 1 small bunch soft herbs (such as chervil), leaves picked whole, stalks finely minced

Steps

Begin by preparing the mayonnaise. Heat the butter in a small pot, toss in the outer lettuce leaves, cover and cook for about 60 seconds, mixing a couple times, until they have softened. Transfer the contents into the jug of a stick blender, include the pistachios and whole egg, then process till smooth. If needed, incorporate extra nuts to achieve a thick consistency. Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for as long as 3 days.

For assemble the dish, sprinkle each gem portion with olive oil and lemon juice, then salt liberally. Coat with a tight drizzle of the green emulsion, then top with the herbs. Place on 2 dishes and serve right away.