**Le Grande Aioli: A Culinary Symphony of Garlic, Olive Oil, and Provencal Charm**
In the heart of Provence, where the sun-kissed vineyards roll down to the azure Mediterranean Sea, lies a culinary treasure that has captivated taste buds for centuries: Le Grande Aioli. This vibrant dish, pronounced "ay-oh-lee," is an aromatic symphony of garlic, olive oil, and an array of fresh vegetables, all harmoniously united in a creamy, flavorful sauce. Join us on a culinary journey as we delve into the secrets of this Provencal classic, exploring its rich history, diverse variations, and the tantalizing recipes that await you within this article. From the traditional Aioli with its pungent garlic kick to the modern interpretations that incorporate herbs, spices, and even seafood, Le Grande Aioli offers a delectable experience that is sure to leave you craving for more.
GRAND AIOLI
This classic French dish is summer dining at its finest: no utensils required, and it pairs very well with chilled rosé. Of course, you can serve your aioli with any vegetables or seafood you like-consider this a good starting point.
Provided by Anna Stockwell
Categories Dinner Party Spring Summer Shrimp Potato Mayonnaise Garlic Green Bean Dip Egg
Yield 6 servings
Number Of Ingredients 16
Steps:
- Place potatoes in a medium pot; add cold water to cover by 1". Season with salt, bring to a boil, and cook until potatoes are fork-tender, 12-15 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl of ice water and chill until cold, about 3 minutes. Transfer to paper towels and pat dry, reserving bowl of ice water.
- Meanwhile, bring another medium pot of salted water to a boil. Add green beans and cook until crisp-tender, 2-4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer beans to ice water; reserve hot water in pot. Chill beans until cold, about 3 minutes. Transfer to paper towels and pat dry, reserving bowl of ice water.
- Return water in green bean pot to a boil, carefully add eggs, and cook 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer eggs to ice water; reserve hot water in pot. Chill eggs until cold, about 5 minutes. Peel; set aside, reserving bowl of ice water.
- Return water to a boil, add shrimp, and cook just until pink, about 3 minutes. Transfer to ice water and chill until cold, about 3 minutes. Transfer to paper towels and pat dry.
- Meanwhile, pulse garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. Add egg yolks, lemon juice, and mustard; season with salt, then process to combine. With the motor running, slowly pour in grapeseed oil a few drops at a time. After about 1/4 cup has been added, scrape down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula. Continue to add grapeseed oil with the motor running, then add olive oil and process until combined. If sauce is too thick, add water 1 Tbsp. at a time. Taste and add more salt and lemon juice, if needed.
- Transfer aioli to a serving bowl. Arrange potatoes, green beans, shrimp, halved eggs, endive, romaine, radishes, cucumbers, and tomatoes on a platter and serve alongside.
- Do Ahead
- Potatoes, green beans, and eggs can be cooked 2 days ahead. Transfer to an airtight container and chill. Aioli can be made 1 day ahead. Transfer to an airtight container and chill.
LE GRAND AIOLI
For those interactive group-gathering festive meals that first come to mind - fondue, say, or raclette - you either have to maintain a giant heated stone by an even larger roaring fire or a balance a pot of boiling oil, molten cheese or finicky chocolate over a live flame. Le grand aioli, by contrast, is a distinctly relaxing, convivial and participatory group meal that requires no dangerous apparatus: It's just a vivid spread of vegetables, simply cooked, and a few pieces of steamed seafood to go with the large quantity of rather garlicky mayonnaise. Since the meal is served at room temperature - neither hot nor cold - it is one of those exceedingly-gentle-on-the-cook meals for which you can just sit down and stay down. The only exertion involved once you set it out is passing the cold wine.
Provided by Gabrielle Hamilton
Categories main course
Time P1DT20m
Yield 6 servings
Number Of Ingredients 25
Steps:
- On the night before you serve the grand aioli, gently season the cod with kosher salt on both sides; cover, and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400. Place beets in a small roasting pan. Coat the beets in 4 tablespoons of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the red-wine vinegar and 4 tablespoons water to the pan. Cover with foil, and roast until beets are tender, approximately 1 hour. Check beets halfway through cooking, and add more olive oil and water if the roasting pan looks dry. Remove beets from oven, and uncover the pan. Cover the beets with a clean kitchen towel, and let them stand at room temperature until cool enough to handle. Using the kitchen towel (or paper towels) to help you, rub off the outer skin of the beets. Peeling the beets while they are still quite warm makes the otherwise difficult task easy. Set aside the peeled beets until completely cool, then halve or quarter, depending on the size.
- Meanwhile, fill a large pot with water, and bring to a boil. Season aggressively with salt. In this case you want the water even saltier than the sea. It should nearly make you pucker when you taste it. Be sure to taste it!
- Lower the heat so that the water is at an energetic simmer. Add the potatoes, and cook until easily pierced with a skewer, approximately 12 minutes. Remove from the simmering water with a slotted spoon, and transfer to a sheet tray lined with a clean kitchen towel to cool.
- Add the green beans and wax beans to the simmering water, and cook until tender, 4 to 5 minutes, depending on thickness. Remove using a slotted spoon, and transfer to the sheet tray to cool.
- Add the zucchini to the simmering water, and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon, and transfer to the sheet tray to cool.
- Turn the heat up on the pot of water, returning it to an aggressive boil. Gently lower the eggs into the boiling water using a slotted spoon, being careful not to crack their shells. Cook 10 minutes. Remove the eggs from the water, and peel them quickly under cool running tap water. Cut them in half lengthwise.
- Once the vegetables are cool, slice the potatoes in half. If the zucchini are very small, you can leave them whole, otherwise halve or quarter them lengthwise.
- Fill a large bowl with cold water, and drop in the radishes. Agitate the radishes to help shake loose any sand, then let it settle on the bottom of the bowl. Lift the radishes out, and set aside. Repeat this process 2 or 3 more times, using fresh water each time, until the radishes are clean and free of sand. Let dry, then halve or quarter, depending on their size.
- Cut the little gem lettuces in half, and drop into a large bowl of cold water. There should be enough room in the bowl so that the lettuces float easily in a single layer. Let stand for 5 minutes so that any sand drops to the bottom of the bowl, then gently lift the lettuces out, and set aside. Repeat this process 2 more times, using fresh water each time, until the lettuces are clean and free of sand. Pat dry or spin gently in a salad spinner.
- Scrub the mussels under running water, and debeard them. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high in a pot large enough to hold the mussels in a single layer. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the garlic, shallot, thyme sprigs and chile flakes. Let the aromatics toast, but not brown, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes.
- Add the mussels, then pour in the wine. Cover the pot with a tightfitting lid, and steam 2 minutes. Check the mussels, and remove any that have opened to a platter. Continue cooking, removing each mussel as it opens so they do not overcook. Discard any that do not open after 10 minutes. Set mussels aside to cool.
- Arrange a steamer basket in a large pot, and fill with 1/2 inch of water; bring to a simmer. Arrange cod in steamer (cut into large pieces, if necessary), and cover with the lid or foil. Gently steam until just cooked through, about 7 minutes. Remove the cod from the steamer, and set aside to cool.
- Grate the garlic into the bowl of a food processor using a microplane. Add the whole egg, egg yolk, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of water and a generous pinch of kosher salt. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the oil. The aioli will start to thicken and emulsify after a few minutes. If the aioli is too thick, add another tablespoon of water to loosen. Taste the aioli, and adjust for seasoning, adding more salt, lemon juice or microplaned garlic, as needed.
- On several large platters arrange all the beautiful ingredients in neat but loose bundles. Serve with the aioli for dipping.
LE GRANDE AIOLI
Provided by Food Network
Time P1DT12h26m
Yield 6 to 8 servings
Number Of Ingredients 12
Steps:
- Place the garlic in a large mortar and pestle and mash well. Add the egg yolks and mash. While mashing, very slowly add the olive oil, drop by drop, to create an emulsion. When the mixture is thick and the oil is all added, season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
- Soak the cod in water in the refrigerator for 3 days, changing the water 2 to 4 times a day. Drain well and cut into 2-ounce pieces. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the bay leaf and lower to a simmer. Poach the cod in the water until just cooked, about 4 to 6 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.
- Place the cod, eggs, carrots, cauliflower, string beans, potatoes, and snails on a large platter. Drizzle with the aioli. Serve remaining aioli in a bowl.
LE GRAND AIOLI
Steps:
- The salt cod needs to soak in fresh cold water in the refrigerator for 24 hours. The water should be changed several times. Remove from the water and break into pieces. The rest of the components of the platter can be started a day in advance as well. Start with the aioli by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Wrap the bulb of garlic in a piece of aluminum foil with a few drops of olive oil. Bake for about 30 minutes or until tender. Allow to cool completely and then squeeze out the garlic into a mixing bowl. Add the egg yolk and slowly whisk in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and put in the refrigerator.
- The day of you picnic, simply make sure all the vegetables are in bite size pieces. For the artichoke, clean and cut in half lengthwise. Rub with olive oil and place on a hot grill for about 5 minutes.
- *RAW EGG WARNING
- Food Network Kitchens suggest caution in consuming raw and lightly-cooked eggs due to the slight risk of Salmonella or other food-borne illness. To reduce this risk, we recommend you use only fresh, properly-refrigerated, clean, grade A or AA eggs with intact shells, and avoid contact between the yolks or whites and the shell.
LE GRAND AIOLI
In the Provencal tradition, we served the aioli on a large plate and surrounded it with a colorful array of dipping items, such as celery, fingerling potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and blue-crab claws. Use whatever is fresh in your local market.
Provided by Martha Stewart
Categories Food & Cooking Appetizers
Yield Makes about 1 cup aioli
Number Of Ingredients 8
Steps:
- Mince garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add egg yolks, a pinch of salt, and mustard; process to combine. With machine running, slowly pour in about half the canola oil through the feed tube, a few drops at a time. Stop to make sure the sauce is thickening, and scrape sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Add 4 teaspoons lemon juice. Resume processing; slowly pour in remaining canola oil and the olive oil. Season with salt and remaining lemon juice, and add the water; process 10 seconds more. If serving immediately, transfer to serving bowls.
Tips:
- For the best flavor, use fresh, high-quality ingredients.
- Make sure the garlic is finely minced.
- Use a slow, steady stream of oil when whisking the aioli.
- If the aioli is too thick, add a little bit of water or milk to thin it out.
- If the aioli is too thin, add a little bit more garlic or bread crumbs to thicken it up.
- Serve the aioli immediately, or store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Conclusion:
Aioli is a versatile condiment that can be used to add flavor to a variety of dishes. It is especially popular in Mediterranean cuisine, and it is often served with grilled meats, fish, and vegetables. Aioli can also be used as a spread for sandwiches and wraps, or as a dip for appetizers. With its rich, garlicky flavor, aioli is sure to add a delicious touch to any meal.
Are you curently on diet or you just want to control your food's nutritions, ingredients? We will help you find recipes by cooking method, nutrition, ingredients...
Check it out »
You'll also love