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Drawing from a popular NYC restaurant, this creative technique turns typically wasted external salad greens into a luxurious herbaceous emulsion. It’s a smart way to reduce food waste while creating a condiment flavorful and flexible.

The Reason Repurpose External Salad Leaves?

Those outer leaves are the plant’s natural wrapping, guarding the tender inner lettuce. Although composting produce trimmings is a basic zero-waste practice, finding creative applications for them is even more impactful. Turning excess ingredients into fertile soil avoids landfill accumulation, where they may release greenhouse gases, which is a powerful climate concern.

This is rather radical if you think over it: produce rots and becomes the perfect soil to nourish more crops, thus closing the cycle and honoring nature’s process of life.

However, given more than 30% surplus food being produced than required, consuming valuable ingredients wisely becomes essential. Minimizing waste not only conserves money but also supports the more eco-friendly way of living.

This Herb-Infused Emulsion Method

This adaptable recipe functions with any variety of salad greens and seeds. Through incorporating one entire egg, one avoid any hassle to use up the extra egg white. This result is a smooth, nutty sauce that pairs perfectly with greens, grilled vegetables, seared chicken, pasta, or rice.

Serves two

To Make the Herb Emulsion (Makes approximately 200 grams)

• 100 grams unsalted butter
• 50 grams external salad greens of two romaine or butter lettuce, washed and thoroughly dried
• 20 grams shelled salted nuts – light-colored nuts like blanched almonds help keep a bright green, though any seeds can work
• 1 medium entire egg

For the Side

• Two romaine or butter heads, halved longwise
• Cold-pressed olive oil, to taste
• Lemon juice or white-wine vinegar, as desired
• 1 generous bunch fresh herbs (like chervil), sprigs picked intact, stems finely minced

Steps

First making the emulsion. Heat the fat in a small pot, add the outer salad leaves, cover and cook for about 60 seconds, mixing once or twice, till they have wilted. Transfer this mixture into a container of a immersion processor, include the pistachios and egg, then blend until smooth. If needed, incorporate extra seeds to get the mayonnaise-like consistency. Store in a airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

To assemble the dish, sprinkle each gem half with olive oil and acid, then season generously. Coat with a zigzag pattern of the green emulsion, then top with the herbs. Place on two plates and enjoy immediately.