Day 14: Herbed Mayo, Fritto Misto and Salad Lyonnaise

Turns out (this should be the theme of my blog) when you make mayo from scratch, it will turn even the most sound of mayo haters into a lover. Because when you make mayo from scratch, it is NOTHING like the weird textured, pseudo slimey condiment that seems to last about 186 times as long as it should in the fridge.

Mayonnaise has a very similar method to Aoili, but a slightly different ratio:

• 2 egg yolks: 1 cup mild oil
• Also seasoned with salt, but in this case, the garlic is replaced with a shot of lemon - you want this baby bright!

For our mayo, we started out with an herb-infused oil.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ oz herb leaves (basil, mint, tarragon and chive all exceptionally delicious)
• ½ oz parsley leaves for color
• 1 cup neutral oil (e.g. olive oil + canola oil - but NOT extra virgin olive oil, which has a stronger flavor)

Method:

1. Blanch and shock herbs, and then gently squeeze dry
2. Puree herbs with ½ cup oil, adding more if necessary to blend smoothly
3. With blender running drizzle in remaining oil
4. Strain through a coffee filter or cheese cloth (easiest to do this overnight)

We then used this as the base in our mayo. With mayo or aoili, the most critical thing is dripping the oil in exceptionally slowly in the beginning, drop by drop. You can start to move a little faster after the mixture begins to emulsify. Once you’ve added about a half cup, you can add in a steady stream.

Salad Lyonnaise

Super delicious salad that is basically breakfast for dinner when you add a poached egg on top!

No egg yet, but aren't these watermelon radishes beautiful?

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup lardons (just strips of super thick bacon, cut to 1 inch lengthwise, ¼ inch wide)

• Splash of vinegar

• 2-3 endives

• 2-3 heads of frisee

• Radish for pop

• ½ loaf of good bread for croutons

• A couple eggs for poaching!

Method:

1. Render your bacon, but keep the fat! Also, adding a splash of water to the pan as you're cooking the bacon will keep the bacon a little more held together, and give it a better texture for your salad.
2. Take off the heat, and once cooled, add a splash of red wine vinegar. Set aside.
3. Trim the ends of your frisee to lose any wilty leaves, or darker green leaves (those make it more bitter)
4. Slice the endive in half, and remove the core. Slice the remaining leaves in long strips 1/4 inch wide
5. Tear your bread into 1/2 inch pieces. Drizzle with a good amount of oil and add a pinch of salt. Put in a 350 degree oven for ~10 minutes until croutons are crispy on the outside but still chewy on the inside.
6. Slice your radishes, and toss in a big bowl with frisee, endive and croutons. Add your bacon dressing and mix with your hands to coat.
7. Add a poached egg on top!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fritto Misto

It was fun to learn how to fry, and it was delicious to dip said fried things in our herbed mayo (but then again, what wouldn’t be delicious dipped in herbed mayo) but not sure I’ll be making this one again. Deep fried things just don’t really do it for me. But, here are some tips for frying vegetables:

• Can't go wrong with a dredge of 3 parts flour: 1 part rice flour, and buttermilk for the liquid
• You want the temperature at 350. Any cooler and it will take too long to cook, causing the insides of whatever you’re cooking to get too soft, and the outside to lose its crispiness. Any hotter and it will burn!
• Don’t crowd!

Served the fritto misto with our herbed aoli. Fabulous.

We fried some Meyer lemons. Never would have thought of that, but they were very delicious. Thinly slice them, and avoid any slices with seeds - the holes leave room for oil to creep in which will burn the lemons

Terms:

Fond! Just means the bits scraped from your pan after cooking something, before you’ve deglazed it