AIOLI: WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE?

There’s aioli – garlicky mayonnaise – and then there’s le grand aioli, a wondrous platter of good things to gather and slather in aioli, all in the name of romance.

If you’re looking for chocolate-dipped strawberries for St Valentine’s Day on 14 February, you’ll find them elsewhere. But if you want a ridiculously romantic dinner for two (or more, no judgement here) that will have you dipping and swooping and chatting all night, stay.

Le Grand Aioli might sound grand, but it’s one of those celebratory dishes that gathers together beautiful things without any fuss. That’s how it was born - traditionally served as the centrepiece of long-tabled, al fresco communal dinners in villages throughout Provence and southern France at the end of the garlic harvest on August 15. It’s generally made with salted cod and a robustly garlicky aioli, but I’ve had it there with periwinkles and mussels, with raw fennel, zucchini, and buckets of Bandol rosé.

Now, it has become a world traveller, adapting to whatever climate or culture it finds itself in. Wherever it goes, people just love it. Even the person who makes it, because it is  breathtakingly easy to pull together.

I’ve popped a recipe below, but le grand aioli is more of a state of mind + what’s in the fridge and the garden + how’s the weather looking sort of thing.

The platter should end up with all your favourite things on it – some raw, some salty, some crunchy, some soft, some warm, some cold. It should look and feel bright and fresh - and it should be completely different every time you do it. 

• Swap out the steamed fish for prawns, or left-over roast chicken.

• It’s amazing with NZ king salmon, left pink inside.  

• Add any manner of green leaves and herbs. Basil has that Provencal vibe but it wasn’t until I randomly threw dill all over it once that I realised it went so well with everything on it, from spuds to fish, eggs, potatoes and tomatoes.

• Don’t care for aioli? Do it with green goddess instead.

Do it for yourself, your loved one, your barely-tolerated one or a bunch of friends; it scales up like a dream for summer entertaining.

Start with a glass of anise-scented pastis, if you dare (it always makes me fall off my chair while laughing like a drain, but that might just be me).

Add crusty bread, a bottle of white, red or rosé, and finish with white peaches and amaretti biscuits.

THE BASICS:

Firm white fish, or lobster or prawns, lightly steamed

Baby potatoes, skin on

Fine green beans, topped but not tailed

Small tomatoes, halved (I’m currently favouring Samparis)

Small cucumbers eg those crunchy little Qukes, halved lengthwise

2 soft-boiled eggs

Small black olives, unpitted

A big bowl of rich, creamy aioli

THE RING-INS:

A few anchovies, to drape over the halved eggs

Radishes, for crunch and colour and bite (leave the greens on to use as handles)

Crisp greens such as baby cos or endive

Spoonful of salted capers, rinsed and drained

Canned fish – sardines, mackerel, tuna, you name it

THE RECIPE: LE GRAND AIOLI

For 2, but easy to scale up

Steaming is the gentlest method for the fish, but cook it however you like, keeping it soft and juicy. Cook the spuds in a pot of simmering water and use the same pot for the beans and the eggs, which is strangely satisfying.

300 g blue eye trevalla or flathead fillets, skinned

4 small chat potatoes, skin on

200 g green beans, topped but not tailed

2 eggs

Handful of cos leaves

5 baby radishes, halved or sliced

4 baby cucumbers, halved lengthwise

handful small olives

Handful of basil leaves or roughly chopped dill

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Aioli, see below

1. Scatter fish with sea salt and steam for 4 to 5 minutes or until just firm to the touch.

2. Cook the spuds in simmering salted water until tender (about 15 mins), and use the same water to cook the beans (2 mins), and the eggs (5 mins).

3. Refresh in cold water, peel the eggs and halve, and cut spuds in half. Toss beans and spuds in olive oil.

4. Clean up the fish (scrape off anything grey), and gently break into lobes.

5. Arrange on a large platter with the potatoes, green beans, eggs, leaves, radishes, cucumbers, olives, basil or dill, and a bowl of aioli.

Aioli

Great with fish, vegetables, and dolloped into seafood stews and on top of paella. I make mine with 2 garlic cloves because I am a wuss. A great friend and mentor of mine, the adorable Robert Carrier, would never dream of using less than four cloves, and usually six.

• Using an electric beater, beat 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 tsp sea salt and 2 egg yolks in a bowl until smooth.

• Very gradually, at a bare trickle, add 200 ml olive oil until you have a thick, smooth and silky emulsion.

• Beat in 1 tbsp lemon juice, taste for a nice balance, then cover and refrigerate. Keeps for 3 or 4 days. Makes 250g.

Tip: Use 200 ml olive oil if you have a nice light one, otherwise cut the richness by using 100 ml olive oil and 100 ml of a more neutral oil such as sunflower or grapeseed. No time? Get your hands on a jar of Doodles Creek aioli.

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I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution. It’s about bloody time, folks.