A simple aïoli

For many people aïoli is a garlic sauce that goes over fries, kebab or shawarma. But in the Provence, aïoli is more than that and can be an entire festive meal with fish, snail, squid, artichokes and other vegetables with a dollop of the creamy garlic sauce.

In an old recipe book with Provençal dishes, by Jean-Baptiste Reboul (1862-1926), the sauce is whisked by hand with a pestle and a mortar.

I used some electrical tools.

You take two cloves of garlic per person and crush that with the mortar and pestle. Add a pinch of salt and continue crushing until you have a paste.

Transfer to a container, add one egg white and turn on the electric whisk, adding virgin olive oil in a slow trickle until you have a creamy sauce. Just add a few lemon drops.

I cooked green beans in water (à l’Anglaise) and could have used other vegetables if they had been available. Cooked potatoes is also welcome.

Then I put a piece of cod filet and whiting filet in a skillet and baked the fish for 10 minutes max. Then I added the drained vegetables and the sauce.

Serve almost immediately; I kept it warm in a closed skillet while we had a Japanese miso soup for starter.