Repurposing Outer Salad Greens into Creamy Emulsion – An Sustainable Recipe
Drawing from a popular NYC restaurant, this groundbreaking method transforms typically wasted external salad greens into an velvety herbaceous “mayonnaise”. This is a brilliant way to cut down on leftovers while producing something tasty and adaptable.
Why Use External Lettuce Leaves?
Those external greens serve as nature’s natural wrapping, guarding the delicate inner leaves. Although recycling vegetable trimmings is a basic sustainable practice, discovering creative applications for them is additionally beneficial. Converting excess food into fertile soil prevents landfill buildup, where it can emit greenhouse gases, a potent environmental concern.
It’s quite radical if you consider over it: food rots and becomes that perfect soil to feed more crops, thereby closing the loop and honoring nature’s cycle of growth.
However, given over 30% extra produce being made compared to required, using valuable resources efficiently becomes crucial. Reducing leftovers not only saves money but also supports a more sustainable way of living.
This Green “Mayonnaise” Recipe
The versatile formula functions with whatever type of lettuce and nuts. By incorporating a entire egg, one avoid any need to use up an extra egg white. This result is a creamy, nutty sauce that works beautifully with salads, roasted veggies, grilled poultry, noodles, or grains.
Yields 2
For the Herb Emulsion (Yields about 200g)
- 100g unsalted butter
- 50 grams external lettuce greens from two romaine or butter lettuce, washed and dried
- 20 grams shelled roasted pistachios – light-colored seeds like pine nuts help keep the bright color, though whatever nuts will do
- One small whole egg
To Make the Salad
- Two romaine or butter lettuces, split longwise
- Extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
- Lemon juice or white-wine vinegar, to taste
- One small bunch soft herbs (like parsley), leaves picked whole, stalks finely chopped
Instructions
First making the emulsion. Heat the butter in a medium saucepan, toss in the outer salad greens, cover and wilt for approximately a minute, stirring once or twice, until they have wilted. Transfer this contents into a container of a immersion blender, add the nuts and whole egg, then process until smooth. If needed, add extra nuts to get a thick texture. Keep in a airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
To prepare the salad, sprinkle each gem portion with oil and acid, then salt generously. Dress with a zigzag drizzle of the green mayonnaise, then top with the greens. Arrange on 2 dishes and enjoy right away.
