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Inspired by a popular NYC eatery, the innovative method turns typically wasted outer salad leaves into a smooth herbaceous “mayonnaise”. It’s an ingenious approach to cut down on kitchen waste while making a condiment flavorful and versatile.

Why Use External Salad Greens?

Those outer leaves are the plant’s protective packaging, shielding the tender inside leaves. Although composting vegetable trimmings is a fundamental sustainable practice, finding new uses for them is even more beneficial. Turning surplus food into rich compost avoids dump buildup, where it can emit methane, a potent climate concern.

This is rather innovative if you consider about it: produce rots and transforms into that perfect soil to nourish more plants, thereby closing this cycle and respecting the process of life.

Yet, with over 30% extra produce being made than required, consuming valuable resources efficiently is crucial. Reducing waste not only conserves money but also promotes the more eco-friendly way of living.

The Herb-Infused “Mayonnaise” Method

This versatile formula functions with any type of salad greens and seeds. Through using a whole egg, you avoid any need to repurpose an leftover white. This result is a creamy, rich sauce that pairs beautifully with salads, grilled vegetables, grilled poultry, pasta, or rice.

Yields 2

For the Green “Mayonnaise” (Yields approximately 200g)

• 100g unsalted butter
• 50 grams external lettuce leaves from 2 little gems, rinsed and thoroughly dried
• 20 grams shelled salted pistachios – white nuts such as pine nuts help maintain the bright green, but whatever seeds can do
• 1 small entire egg

For the Salad

• 2 little gem heads, halved longwise
• Extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
• Fresh lime juice or apple cider vinegar, as desired
• 1 small handful fresh herbs (such as chives), sprigs picked intact, stems thinly minced

Steps

First making the emulsion. Melt the fat in one medium saucepan, toss in the external lettuce greens, place a lid and wilt for about 60 seconds, mixing a couple times, until they’ve softened. Transfer the contents into the jug of a immersion blender, include the pistachios and whole egg, then blend till creamy. As necessary, incorporate extra seeds to get the thick texture. Store in an sealed container in the fridge for as long as 3 days.

For prepare the salad, sprinkle each lettuce half with olive oil and acid, then season generously. Coat with one tight pattern of the green emulsion, then top with the greens. Arrange on two dishes and enjoy right away.