🔗 Share this article

Drawing from a well-known NYC restaurant, this innovative technique converts often-discarded external lettuce leaves into an smooth herbaceous “mayonnaise”. It’s a brilliant approach to minimize food waste while creating something flavorful and flexible.

The Reason Repurpose Outer Lettuce Greens?

These outer greens are the plant’s protective packaging, guarding the delicate inner lettuce. Although composting produce scraps is a basic sustainable practice, finding creative applications for these parts is additionally beneficial. Turning excess food into rich soil prevents dump accumulation, where they can release greenhouse gases, which is a powerful climate concern.

It’s quite radical when you think over it: food rots and transforms into that perfect soil to nourish further plants, thereby closing this cycle and honoring nature’s cycle of growth.

Yet, given over 30% extra food getting made compared to required, using valuable ingredients efficiently becomes crucial. Minimizing leftovers not only conserves money but also promotes the increasingly eco-friendly way of living.

This Herb-Infused “Mayonnaise” Recipe

This versatile formula functions with any type of lettuce and seeds. By using one entire egg, you eliminate any need to repurpose an leftover egg white. This result is a smooth, rich dressing that pairs beautifully with salads, grilled vegetables, seared chicken, pasta, or grains.

Serves 2

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

• 100g butter
• 50g outer salad leaves from 2 little gems, washed and thoroughly dried
• 20 grams peeled roasted nuts – light-colored nuts such as cashews assist maintain a bright green, but whatever seeds can work
• One small whole egg

To Make the Salad

• 2 little gem lettuces, split longwise
• Cold-pressed oil, to taste
• Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, to taste
• One generous bunch fresh herbs (like chervil), leaves picked intact, stems thinly chopped

Instructions

First preparing the mayonnaise. Heat the fat in one small saucepan, toss in the outer salad greens, place a lid and wilt for approximately 60 seconds, stirring once or twice, till they’ve wilted. Transfer the contents into the jug of a immersion blender, add the pistachios and egg, then blend till smooth. If needed, incorporate extra seeds to achieve a mayonnaise-like consistency. Store in a airtight jar in the fridge for up to 3 days.

For prepare the dish, sprinkle each lettuce half with olive oil and acid, then season liberally. Dress with a zigzag drizzle of the herb mayonnaise, then top with the herbs. Place on 2 dishes and serve right away.