🔗 Share this article

Drawing from a well-known New York eatery, this creative technique converts usually thrown-out outer lettuce greens into an luxurious green “mayonnaise”. It’s an ingenious approach to cut down on kitchen waste while making a condiment flavorful and versatile.

The Reason Use Outer Lettuce Leaves?

Those outer greens are the plant’s natural wrapping, guarding the tender inner lettuce. Although recycling vegetable scraps is one fundamental zero-waste habit, finding creative applications for them is additionally beneficial. Turning surplus ingredients into fertile soil avoids landfill accumulation, where they can release greenhouse gases, a potent climate issue.

This is quite radical if you consider over it: food decomposes and transforms into the ideal soil to feed further crops, thus completing the loop and respecting nature’s cycle of life.

However, given more than 30% extra food getting produced compared to required, consuming precious resources efficiently is crucial. Reducing waste not only saves money but also promotes the increasingly sustainable way of living.

The Green “Mayonnaise” Recipe

This adaptable recipe works with whatever variety of lettuce and seeds. Through incorporating one entire egg, one avoid any need to repurpose an leftover white. This outcome is an smooth, nutty sauce that pairs beautifully with salads, roasted vegetables, seared chicken, noodles, or grains.

Yields two

To Make the Herb “Mayonnaise” (Yields approximately 200 grams)

• 100 grams unsalted butter
• 50 grams external lettuce leaves from 2 little gems, rinsed and dried
• 20 grams peeled salted pistachios – white nuts like pine nuts help keep the vivid green, but whatever nuts can do
• One small whole egg

For the Side

• Two little gem heads, split longwise
• Cold-pressed olive oil, as needed
• Fresh lime juice or white-wine vinegar, as desired
• One small bunch soft herbs (like dill), leaves picked intact, stems finely minced

Steps

First preparing the emulsion. Melt the fat in a medium pot, add the outer lettuce leaves, place a lid and cook for about 60 seconds, mixing a couple times, till they have wilted. Transfer this contents into a jug of an stick blender, include the pistachios and whole egg, then process till smooth. As necessary, incorporate extra nuts to achieve the thick texture. Keep in an sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

For prepare the salad, drizzle each gem portion with olive oil and lemon juice, then salt generously. Coat with a zigzag drizzle of the herb emulsion, then scatter with the herbs. Place on two dishes and serve right away.