Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Aioli My version is quick, easy, delicious, flavorful, garlicky, creamy, smooth. 5 minutes and a few ingredients and you'll be delighted and hooked. Use it as a side for absolutely everything

Ah...Aioli, add it to any menu item and increase the cost of the dish by double.  You can hae chicken with mayonnaise and it's chicken salad... serve it with aioli and it's suddenly an "amuse bouche" moment with lightly poached chicken with garlic aioli (?) and herbs d'jour.  You'd pay way more for the second item!  OH and imagine when your friends come by, leftover potatoes and mayo? or Smashed roast new potatoes fried crispy in duck fat with homemade aioli dipping sauce.  MMM  I may not be able to continue with this post, I may have to go make that.  Oh and what is it? it's garlic mayonnaise.  Seeing "garlic aioli" on any menu drives me insane, sort of like "salt salt cod" ? really?  BUT, as per usual, I digress

I like ailo with seafood, meat, chicken, vegetables, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks.  I like to dip veggies (cooked or raw) or bread or chips or roasted potatoes in it.  I put it over risotto or pasta or anything.  Yeah, it's sort of the workhorse of all sauces but still maintains a fru fru status.

You can get it two ways (ok, you can do it a million ways but this is the short version)  You can either (a) buy mayonnaise, chop up garlic and add it with a little lemon.  Fabulous.  or you can (b) make a quick batch that is so much easier, more delicious and richer than you can imagine.  Oh and (b) takes the same amount of time as (a) so really, it's a no brainer. 

Ok, here we go, we're making my aioli.  Mine isn't traditional at all but I tell you what, I'll put it up against the fidgety versions any day of the week.  You can also use this as a jumping off point to take it any direction you like.  Add herbs, mustards, no garlic and have straight up mayo.  Use this as a base and get your creative on! 

TRACY'S AIOLI

1 egg *yep the whole egg
1 cup oil (I like 1/2 veggie, 1/2 olive oil but you can use all olive oil or all vegetable oil if you want)
2-6 garlic cloves, the garlicky you want it, the more you add
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper
1 Tblsp vinegar or lemon juice (I use lemon juice from a bottle ;))

Here we go, directions and pics: 


Obtain one Cuisinart food processor :)  Add the egg and whip like crazy
  

whip the egg like mad to get it a little foamy.  Add the salt and pepper and sugar and whip again.  Add the garlic cloves and pulse till they disintegrate.
  
With the machine running, drizzle the oil SLOWLY through the tube till about half is used up. 
I turn it off to add the lemon juice or vinegar down the tube then start it up again and continue with the rest of the oil.
   
OH look how thick and lovely that is! Transfer the aioli to jars and shove them in the fridge.  They last about a week.  FABULOUS
 



There you go, aioli in a minute and a half.  Better than anything store bought, cheaper and way more satisfying.  

I made mine today to dip the leaves of an artichoke I pressure cooked. :) I'm going to use some later tonight to top our shrimp pasta.  Yeah, it's good to be here today. 

/enjoy

1 comment:

  1. I had no idea what Aioli was until I looked up your recipe. I make my own garlic mayo all the time so I already have Aioli in the house. Like you, I use a whole egg and, while I don't have a food processor, I use my hand blender and it is amazing. Plus, the hand blender came with a beaker with a cover (as well as a mini processor which is really just a chopper)so it is the perfect size for storing my homemade whatever. I use it for blue cheese dressing, ranch, aioli and a host of other things. If you don't have a hand blender or if you need to replace yours, I highly recommend the Oster Immersion Hand Blender, 002605-001-015. I bought it from Walmart.com and with shipping it cost me all of $22.08. I went to get another one for a friend a week later and the price had gone up a few dollars. I discovered that if they sell a few the price goes up for a week or two so if you see it for a higher price wait a week for it to come back down. It is still cheaper than in the store where it is probably $30.

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