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Modeled after a popular NYC restaurant, this groundbreaking technique transforms typically wasted outer salad leaves into an luxurious herbaceous emulsion. It’s a ingenious approach to minimize leftovers while producing something flavorful and versatile.

Why Repurpose Outer Salad Leaves?

Those external greens serve as nature’s protective wrapping, shielding the tender inside leaves. Although composting vegetable trimmings is one fundamental sustainable habit, finding new uses for them is additionally impactful. Turning surplus ingredients into rich soil avoids dump accumulation, where they may emit methane, which is a powerful environmental concern.

This is rather radical if you think over it: food rots and becomes the ideal soil to feed more crops, thereby completing this loop and honoring nature’s cycle of life.

However, given more than 30% extra food getting made than required, using valuable ingredients efficiently becomes crucial. Minimizing leftovers not only saves money but also supports a increasingly sustainable way of living.

The Green Emulsion Recipe

This adaptable formula works with any type of salad greens and seeds. Through using a entire egg, one avoid the need to repurpose the leftover white. The outcome is a smooth, rich dressing that works beautifully with salads, grilled vegetables, seared poultry, pasta, or grains.

Serves 2

To Make the Herb Emulsion (Yields about 200 grams)

• 100 grams unsalted butter
• 50g external salad leaves of two romaine or butter lettuce, washed and dried
• 20 grams peeled salted nuts – white seeds like pine nuts help maintain the vivid color, though any seeds will work
• 1 small whole egg

To Make the Salad

• 2 romaine or butter heads, split longwise
• Cold-pressed oil, as needed
• Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, to taste
• 1 small handful fresh herbs (like parsley), sprigs picked whole, stalks thinly minced

Instructions

First making the mayonnaise. Melt the butter in one small pot, toss in the outer salad greens, cover and wilt for approximately 60 seconds, stirring once or twice, till they’ve wilted. Transfer this contents into the container of an stick blender, add the nuts and egg, then blend till creamy. If needed, add more seeds to achieve the mayonnaise-like consistency. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

To prepare the dish, drizzle each lettuce half with oil and acid, then season liberally. Coat with one tight pattern of the herb emulsion, then scatter with the greens. Place on 2 dishes and enjoy right away.