Tuesday 18 November 2008

Moules, frites & aioli

I am a bit tempted to launch a new blogging event - CBF Friday. What is the absolute minimum effort you can expend for Friday's dinner without actually just calling for pizza? I have had Friday nights where I have chosen my wine by the presence of a stelvin closure because I CBF finding a corkscrew... and someone who may or may not be me has been seen eating tuna straight from a ring-pull can because anything else is just too hard.

So last Friday's dinner wasn't exactly a personal best, but it did show all the signs that I was a bit over the week.

I had a couple of bags of mussels in garlic butter sauce, just waiting to be plunged into a pot of boiling water to reheat. I had a box of par-cooked oven fries. I had a box of par-cooked roast parsnips.

All I needed was some nice garlicky mayonnaise. And quite frankly making mayonnaise is therapy, not cooking. The clop clop noise that a wooden spoon makes in a bowl of mayonnaise is right up there with dog snores for being a calming influence. Don't look at me like that - dog snores are lovely.

Friday night aioli

2 cloves of garlic
1 egg yolk
1tsp white wine vinegar
100ml mild olive oil
1tbs boiling water
Freshly ground black pepper

Mix the crushed garlic with the eggyolk and vinegar. Very slowly, stirring all the time, drip the oil into the egg mixture. When the oil has all been used and the mayonnaise thickens add a spoonful of boiling water to help stablise it, then season with black pepper.

Makes just enough for 2 greedy people to dunk their chips in.

14 comments:

MrOrph said...

You gotta love a good aioli. I always manage to "break" mine and wind up having to "fix" it with more egg. I'll get the hang of it someday.

I'll take some of those mussels please!

kat said...

good for you making your own mayo, we were to lazy to do that the other night & ended up just dressing up jarred mayo

Alicia Foodycat said...

MrOrph - you have to be patient! It really is drip by drip, stirring like a whirlwind until each addition is combined. The mussels are great; such a good cheat!

Kat - didn't have any jarred mayo in the house!

Darius T. Williams said...

this looks like some gooood eating!

-DTW
www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com

Heather said...

Aw frick, between the steak and fondue and the moules frites (with aioli!) I'm having a coronary over here. A good one.

NKP said...

Sounds like the perfect quickie meal to me! All wonderful flavours, and home made aioli - yum.
I love dog snores too. Pugs really can snore. And snort.

Arlene Delloro said...

I had dinner out last week and, though I had a beautiful orechiette with sausage and broccoli rabe sitting in front of me, I was coveting the young man's fries with aioli at the next table. I don't eat mussels, but I'd eat almost anything else with that aioli.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Ben - I love cat snores too!

Darius - it was delicious. Could have upped the garlic in the aioli just a little.

Heather - I know. I need to eat some broccoli.

Natashya - I have never had a pug but I can imagine the snores!

Arlene - that orecchiette sounds lovely. But fries and ailoi are so hard to beat!

Sam said...

Mmm I really love mussels, now I really want some!

I've never made own aioli before I'll have to try that.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Sam - it is very easy. But don't use extra virgin olive oil because for some reason it tastes twice as strong in a mayonnaise.

Deb in Hawaii said...

Looks and sounds like the perfect Friday dinner to me! I have not made mayo or aioli yet--one of these days!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Deb, next time you are having a tricky week, give it a go. Very quick and very relaxing.

Peter M said...

That Aioli looks real good and I'm a sucker for mussels...now I wanna hit Belgium!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Peter, we've been wanting to get to Belgium for moules frites ever since we moved to the UK! Still haven't done it.

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