the summer meal you should be making right now … A Grand Aioli with Easy 2-minute Mayonnaise

Summer food is summer food for a reason. The ingredients tend to be things that are in season, many for only a short time like tomatoes and corn. The dishes typically come together quickly with a consideration given to not heating up the kitchen, utilizing techniques like grilling or a quick stovetop sauté and avoidance of the oven altogether. Full disclosure: I break this rule all the time and just sweat it out. I make what I want to make, weather be damned. Last weekend toward the end of a horrible heat wave, I was craving something cool and light and I was seriously considering sitting in a bucket of ice during every meal. Friends were coming over for Sunday Lunch and I decided to channel my inner French woman and make the ultimate summer meal I’ve enjoyed immensely during my travels – a Grand Aioli.

Aioli is Provençal in origin and perfect in the summer heat of Southern France or Central Chicago. My Gascon friend Kate of The Kitchen at a Camont serves this frequently in the hot summer months, piling gigantic platters with gorgeous fresh vegetables from the local market, interspersed with cold cooked seafood from the French/Spanish coast just a few hours away from her home. There are olives and bread, big cold bottles of wine and most importantly, bowls of garlicky mayonnaise for dipping and spreading. It is the ideal summertime meal.

With the menu set, I went to the farmers market early Saturday morning and picked up whatever looked good. The season is really just starting to kick in here and there were so many options – fat radishes, zucchini, fava beans, gorgeous baby carrots, sugar snaps, tiny fingerling potatoes in all kinds of shapes and colors. They all went into my bag to be prepped and/or blanched later. On the way home, I stopped at the fish market and picked up some shrimp and mussels to be cooked and chilled that afternoon.

Then I turned my attention to the star of the show – the garlicky mayonnaise, also known as aioli. Traditional aioli is a garlicky emulsion of egg yolks, lemon juice, mustard and olive oil made in a mortar and a pestle. I’ve done it this way and while it was great, there was a lot of effort involved. Worth it? That’s a matter of opinion but I’m glad I did it – once. What I do now is something I picked up from Kate and it really couldn’t be simpler.

Homemade mayonnaise is the easiest thing to make – if you have an immersion blender. You can certainly whisk to your hearts delight but a few buzzes with an immersion blender takes about 2 minutes and never ceases to fascinate. The process is simple but it hinges on one key factor: finding the right vessel. If your stick blender came with a cup, great! If not you have to find a cup of some sort that will allow the blender head to go all the way to the bottom with just a little space on the sides. Anything too large and it won’t work quite right. You can read all about the technical logistics here.

The order the ingredients go in the cup is important – don’t stray and let everything sit and settle a bit before blending. Then turn that stick blender on, moving it a few times to draw in all the oil and watch an aioli miraculously form before your eyes. I taught this technique in a cooking class and one woman was so delighted by the whole thing that she asked if she could do it again. And then again. We were stocked with mayonnaise for weeks.

You can put everything in the fridge for a few days to chill or you can serve right away. Arrange all your seafood and vegetables prettily on a platter, place the bowl of aioli right in the center and soak up the adoration. It’s a relatively simple dish to pull together but looks really impressive. It is absolutely perfect for these hot summer days.

STRESS THERAPY BAKING FACTOR: CLASSIC COLD COMFORT. I’m going to make a confession: I do not really like mayonnaise. Really. But there’s something about a homemade garlicky aioli that draws me in. Just a little smear on a perfect baby carrot or a quick swipe on a piece of shrimp is delicious, the garlic adding enough bite to flavor everything perfectly. I really love it. And I really love it when there’s a little leftover for a cold roast beef sandwich the next day. You should do this. It is absolutely perfect for a lazy July 4th lunch. Everything can be made ahead so it’s as simple as putting everything on a platter. If you can arrange, you can make this.

Eight years ago: At the Market  
Seven years ago: Big American Flag Cake
Six years ago: Sweet & Spicy Beer Mustard
Five years ago: Strawberry Hibiscus Popsicles, Spanish Sunday Lunch, Patatas Aioli 
Four years ago: BBQ Baked Beans, Hush Puppies
Three years ago: Guinness Crème Anglaise
Two years ago: Radish Butter
Last year: another installment in the popular series “Why Would You Do That?” – Sedano e Pomodori (Braised Celery and Tomato), Pina Colada Sherbet

A GRAND AIOLI
How much you make depends on how many people you’re feeding. It could be as simple as a ½ pound of boiled shrimp and a few blanched vegetables or a whole spread with multiple shellfish options and every vegetable at the market. I’ve had it both ways and every way in between and enjoyed it every time. For non-seafood eaters, I’ve been known to grill a few steaks; cold beef and garlic aioli are a match made in heaven. The platter ingredients below are just a suggestion. A Grand Aioli is flexible based on what you like, what’s available and what’s in season.

For the aioli: (makes about 1 cup)
1 large egg yolk
1 – 2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon water
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
Kosher salt to taste

For the platter:
Cooked chilled fish/seafood possiblities:

• Shrimp
• Mussels
• Clams
• firm white fish such as cod or halibut

Vegetable possibilities:

• Small fingerling potatoes, blanched & chilled
• Carrots, blanched & chilled
• Green beans, blanched & chilled
• Artichokes, cooked & chilled
• Fennel, raw
• Radishes, raw
• Snap peas, raw or blanched & chilled
• Small zucchini, raw or grilled
• Fava beans, grilled in pods
• Small spring onions, grilled
• Asparagus, grilled
• Hard boiled eggs, halved
• Various olives

1. For the aioli: Place egg yolk, garlic, water, lemon juice, and mustard in the bottom of an immersion blender cup in the order listed.
2. Pour oil on top and allow to settle for 15 seconds.
3. Place head of immersion blender at bottom of cup and turn it on.
4. As mayonnaise forms, slowly tilt and lift the head of the immersion blender until all of the oil is blended emulsified.
5. Season mayonnaise to taste with salt. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
6. To blanch vegetables: to blanch, boil the vegetables in salted water until tender then drain and plunge into ice water to shock and stop the cooking process. Drain and chill until needed. Can do several days in advance. Please note, due to variable cooking times, it’s best to blanch each vegetable separately. Start with light colored vegetables and progress to darker ones and you can use the same water.
7. To grill vegetables: Some vegetables might be better grilled, such as asparagus, spring onions, zucchini and fav beans. Grill over high heat until slightly charred and tender. Best grilled day of serving.
8. To cook shrimp: place peeled shrimp in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and let sit 10 minutes. Drain and plunge into ice water to shock and stop the cooking process. Drain and chill until needed. Can do several days in advance.
9. To cook mussels/clams: saute 2-3 garlic cloves and 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a large shallow pan with a lid until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add 1 cup white wine and bring to a boil. Add the shellfish, stir and cover. cook until the shells open, anywhere from 4-8 minutes, stirring once or twice. Remove from heat, let cool and refrigerate, with liquid, until needed. Can do 1 day in advance.
10. To hard boil eggs: place the eggs in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a rolling boil, turn off the heat, cover the pot and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove the eggs from the pot and place in a bowl of cold water to cool. Store in the refrigerator until needed. Can be done several days ahead.
11. To serve: arrange your chilled vegetable/shellfish selection on a pretty platter. Place the aioli in a bowl in the center of the platter. Scatter a handful of olives around the platter and tuck a few hard boiled eggs, sliced in half, here and there. Serve immediately.

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