WEEKEND COLUMNISTS Aioli is a true blast of the warm south. It evokes the Provence that we dreamed of as we pored over our Elizabeth David, dreaming of Cézanne, the mistral and Alphonse Daudet.
If the Provence that many of us will visit this month is a rather different reality, clogged with traffic, full of pretentious and overpriced restaurants and the beaches hopelessly overcrowded, we can always import a little bit of the real Provence by making an unctuous aioli at home.
Aioli is not just a garlic mayonnaise. Not only does it mean a meal as much as a sauce but it signifies a whole way of eating.
Aioli is a lunch - it would be almost improper to eat it in the evening - and the sort of slow, meandering lunch that extends well into the afternoon, accompanied by many bottles of rosé and much conversation.
An aioli can be any number of dishes but a sense of plenitude should be evident. Bowls of raw vegetables - radishes, broad beans, peppers, cucumbers, cauliflowers, carrots, spring onions and celery - should be dotted around the table. Hard boiled eggs are a must and no true aioli is without a large piece of boiled salt cod, flakes of the fish to be dipped in the sauce.
A bowl of boiled potatoes is also obligatory and any other cooked vegetables - green beans, beetroots, artichokes - are also permissible.
Although rarely served in Provence, an aioli being most commonly an almost vegetarian feast, meat is perfectly permissible. A centrepiece of a boiled brisket or silverside, sliced and served lukewarm, is especially good.
One final accoutrement is to have a bowl or two of parsley, flat or curly, placed around the table as a final digestive aid and efficacious at sweetening the breath. An aioli that holds back on the garlic is simply not an aioli at all, just as it would be a mistake to think that aioli was merely a mayonnaise with the addition of chopped garlic. There should be no mustard or vinegar anywhere near an aioli and a good olive oil, not ferociously bitter, is essential.
The only other ingredients are garlic - and plenty of it - good rich egg yolks and a good squeeze of lemon.
AIOLI
Lazy cooks have been known to liquidise the garlic in the olive oil and proceed accordingly. I cannot think of anything wrong with this method, although there is more aesthetic pleasure - and less washing up - to be had from reducing the garlic to a paste with the help of some sea salt and either a heavy knife or a mortar and pestle.
Ingredients
6 egg yolks
6 cloves of garlic
500ml olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon milled white
pepper
Method
*Peel the garlic and chop roughly with a large and heavy cooks’ knife. Add the salt and proceed to pulverise the garlic by crushing it with the flat of the knife. Continue to work the garlic, using the edge of the knife at a very narrow angle to the board and rocking it across the mass until it breaks down to a smooth paste (this job can be done with a mortar and pestle).
*Place the salt and garlic paste in a bowl and combine it with the egg yolks, pepper and lemon juice. Whisk together really well before starting to add the olive oil in a thin stream. Continue to whisk constantly as the mixture starts to thicken, gradually increasing the flow of oil as the emulsion gets larger in mass. The end result should be a thick, glossy greenish yellow ointment in which you can stand a spoon.
Rowley Leigh is chef at Kensington Place, London
More columns at www.ft.com/leigh
