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Drawing from an acclaimed New York eatery, the groundbreaking method converts typically wasted external lettuce greens into an luxurious green emulsion. This is a ingenious way to cut down on food waste while creating a condiment delicious and flexible.

Why Use Outer Lettuce Leaves?

Those external greens serve as nature’s protective wrapping, shielding the delicate inside lettuce. Although composting vegetable scraps is a fundamental sustainable habit, finding creative uses for them is even more beneficial. Converting excess food into fertile compost avoids landfill buildup, where they can emit greenhouse gases, a potent environmental issue.

This is rather innovative when you think over it: food rots and becomes the perfect soil to nourish more crops, thus closing this loop and honoring nature’s process of life.

However, given more than 30% surplus produce getting made than needed, using precious resources efficiently becomes essential. Minimizing waste not only saves cash but also supports a increasingly sustainable lifestyle.

This Herb-Infused Emulsion Method

The versatile formula functions with whatever variety of lettuce and nuts. By using a entire egg, you avoid any hassle to use up an leftover white. The result is an creamy, nutty sauce that pairs beautifully with greens, grilled veggies, grilled poultry, pasta, or grains.

Yields 2

For the Herb Emulsion (Yields about 200 grams)

• 100g butter
• 50g outer salad greens of two little gems, rinsed and dried
• 20 grams peeled salted nuts – light-colored nuts like blanched almonds help keep a bright green, though whatever nuts can do
• One small entire egg

For the Side

• Two little gem heads, halved lengthways
• Extra-virgin oil, to taste
• Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, as desired
• One small handful fresh herbs (like chervil), leaves picked whole, stems finely chopped

Steps

First making the mayonnaise. Heat the fat in a small saucepan, toss in the outer salad greens, place a lid and cook for approximately a minute, mixing a couple times, until they’ve wilted. Pour this mixture into the container of an stick processor, include the nuts and egg, then blend until creamy. If needed, add more nuts to get a thick consistency. Store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for as long as three days.

To prepare the dish, sprinkle each lettuce half with oil and lemon juice, then salt liberally. Coat with a zigzag pattern of the green emulsion, then scatter with the herbs. Place on 2 plates and enjoy right away.