Wild Garlic Aioli

Now what really is Aioli, some times spelt Aoli or Allioli? All pronounced Ay-Oh-Lee. Of course it’s a garlic mayonnaise of sorts but, to use eggs or not to use eggs? Traditionally Spanish aioli was made with out eggs carefully emulsifying garlic with oil. Aioli originates from France but it has become popular in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Malta not to mention Britain, although often we cheat mixing a garlic clove in a pot of ready-made mayonnaise! While the Italians add mashed potato and the Maltese tomato. But I came across an emulsified quick and easy milk version from a Spanish chef friend, which fascinated me, I’d never seen anything like it before and had to experiment.

Quick Garlic Aioli

Creamy white dip with a powerful punch of raw garlic and it only gets better with time.

• 1 - 2 cloves garlic
• 100 ml full fat milk (or semi skimmed)
• 200 ml mixed oil (1/2 olive oil / 2/3 vegetable oil)
• a pinch of seasoning

1. With a hand blender and a jug, whiz the garlic in to the milk.
2. With the hand blender still going slowly pour the mixed oils in a thin stream, blending until well mixed.
3. That’s it!

Aioli’s perfect with fish and seafood, like Paella but it’s also great as a dip especially with crusty bread and a side dish of olives.

Variations of the Wild Garlic Aioli

Use a small clove of garlic and add 1 tablespoon finely chopped wild garlic leaves to the finished aioli.

• Saffron Aioli – Soak a generous pinch of saffron in 1 teaspoon boiled water, add with only 1 clove garlic at the beginning.
• Oregano Aioli – Stir in 1 desert spoon of chopped oregano to the finished aioli.
• Mustard Aioli – stir in 1 teaspoon any mustard to the finished aoli.
• Wasabi Aioli – Add 1/2 teaspoon wasabi as above.
• Horseradish Aioli as above.

Wild garlic grows well by rivers and lakes and apparently wards off 'moles'. Yes, moles. That's why I bought a ton of it online and planted it in one of my vegetable patches - to eventually plant on by the lake, to get rid of those pesky mole hills - but as it's thriving so well, I've just left it and now have bucket loads of the stuff every spring.

It sprouts up around April, eventually flowering and then disappears after a couple of months. Both the leaf and flower taste divine - with plenty of garlic flavour. You can use the leaf raw as an herb, grind down to make a paste or wilt down like spinach. I use it in pesto, creamy pasta dishes and rubbed on top of brochette - but the uses are endless.

This year I'm going to try garlic leaf infused oil, ricotta & leaf calzoni and maybe use some in sour dough bread but thats another story.

Recipe by Zena Leech-Calton.

Visit Zena's site here.