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Inspired by a popular NYC eatery, the innovative technique turns often-discarded external salad greens into a luxurious green emulsion. This is an ingenious way to minimize kitchen waste while making a condiment tasty and flexible.

Why Repurpose Outer Salad Leaves?

These outer greens serve as the plant’s natural wrapping, shielding the tender inside lettuce. Although composting produce trimmings is a fundamental sustainable habit, discovering creative uses for them is additionally impactful. Converting surplus food into fertile compost prevents landfill accumulation, where they can release greenhouse gases, which is a potent environmental issue.

This is rather innovative if you think about it: food rots and becomes that ideal soil to nourish more plants, thus closing this loop and honoring the process of growth.

However, given more than 30% extra food getting produced compared to required, consuming valuable ingredients wisely becomes essential. Reducing leftovers not only conserves cash but also supports a more eco-friendly way of living.

The Herb-Infused Emulsion Recipe

This adaptable recipe works with any type of salad greens and seeds. By using one entire egg, you avoid any hassle to use up an leftover egg white. The outcome is a smooth, rich dressing that works beautifully with greens, roasted vegetables, grilled chicken, noodles, or grains.

Yields two

To Make the Green Emulsion (Yields about 200g)

• 100g unsalted butter
• 50g outer lettuce greens of 2 romaine or butter lettuce, washed and dried
• 20g peeled salted pistachios – white nuts such as cashews help keep a vivid green, but any nuts can do
• One medium entire egg

For the Salad

• Two little gem lettuces, halved longwise
• Cold-pressed olive oil, as needed
• Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, as desired
• One generous bunch fresh herbs (such as dill), sprigs picked whole, stems thinly chopped

Instructions

First making the emulsion. Heat the butter in one small pot, add the outer lettuce greens, cover and wilt for about a minute, stirring a couple times, until they have wilted. Pour the contents into the jug of an immersion blender, add the nuts and whole egg, then process until creamy. If needed, incorporate extra seeds to achieve the mayonnaise-like consistency. Keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to three days.

To prepare the dish, drizzle each gem portion with oil and acid, then salt liberally. Dress with one zigzag drizzle of the herb emulsion, then top with the greens. Place on two plates and enjoy right away.