Le grande aoili for end of summer
Hot, smoky, August nights — a kind of end-of-summer malaise is settling like fog around the struggling garden, TV news is catastrophic as usual, and the grass is dying. The antidote? The Grand Aioli, a simple no-utensils, summer dining at its finest, casual kind of meal that encourages conversation and camaraderie.
A classic Provençal recipe from the city of Marseille, le grand aioli is a marriage of land and sea combining colorful vegetables like asparagus, green beans, new potatoes, endive, baby carrots, radishes and artichokes with mussels, cod, shrimp and boiled eggs accompanied by Provence’s famous garlic sauce or aioli.
Gather whatever vegetables are fresh in the market and serve the meal on a large platter with chilled glasses of crisp rosé and sliced baguettes. Serve everything tepid or at room temperature and let everyone take what they like from the platter according to their appetite.
Aioli refers to the garlicky mayonnaise-like Provençal dipping sauce whereas Le Grand Aioli refers to a complete meal that celebrates Provence and French farmers from the arrière-pays or countryside where farms rule.
Northern California chef and cookbook author, Georgeanne Brennan splits her time between Sacramento and Provence where she has a seasonal cooking school, and writes about Le Grand Aioli in her book, “A Pig in Provence.”
Garlic is so important in Provence that there is a monthlong garlic fair in Marseille that began in the 15th Century where people come from all over the region to buy their garlic provisions for the year. To make aioli, the most famous garlic dish of Provence, garlic cloves are firmly crushed into a paste with sharp-edged crystals of coarse sea salt. The
crushed garlic is whisked together with egg yolks, then olive oil is slowly added, and the mixture is whisked until it becomes a luminous, golden green mayonnaise, fragrant and pungent with garlic. The Provenceaux eat the condiment with meats, fish and shellfish and use it as a spread, but it is le grand aioli that celebrates its namesake. The festive meal is often served at large family gatherings — and in earlier times was the heart of les fetes campagnardes, rural celebrations where people from outlying farms gathered together to share a meal and drink the local wine.
Today, most of the villages in Provence hold the feast on Aug. 15 — the date of the Catholic Feast of the Assumption celebrating the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven.
The festivities which have become more secular with time go on for at least two days beginning
on Aug. 14. They include boules matches during the day, live music, aperitifs and dancing from seven to eight in the evening and a grand ball with more live music and dancing into the night. On Aug. 15, there is an aperitif at noon followed by le grand aioli and more boules matches.
Boules, properly called petanque is the ultimate sport in Provence. Everyone plays it — young and old, men and women. Watching boules matches is a serious spectator sport as well. A match is easy to spot. Five or more people looking down at packed dirt or sand, usually in a shady spot. On closer inspection you’ll see they are staring at steel balls — the boules — trying to determine which one is closest to a small wooden ball, the cochonnet or coche. Like bocce, the object of the game is to throw the boules as close as possible to the coche, placed 6 to 10 meters
away. When both teams have thrown their six balls, very careful measuring takes place with a folding steel tape that most players keep in their pocket. The winning team gets one point for every ball that is closer to the coche than any of the opponents’ balls. Play continues to thirteen points.
Aioli Ingredients:
• 4cloves garlic
• Pinch coarse sea salt
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1cup extra virgin olive oil, or ½ cup olive oil and ½ cup sunflower or grapeseed oil
Directions: To make an authentic aioli, using a pestle crush four cloves of garlic in a mortar with a pinch of coarse sea salt until you get a paste. If you have a large mortar, continue using it, if not, remove the crushed garlic to a bowl.
Whisk in three large egg yolks. Drop by drop, drizzle in about ½ cup extravirgin olive oil, whisking continuously. As the aioli begins to thicken, the oil can be added in a thin, steady stream. If you are using a mild Provencalstyle olive oil, continue whisking in another ½ cup olive oil. If the olive oil is strong, whisk in ½ cup grapeseed or sunflower oil instead. In either case, whisk just until the aioli is stiff. Set aside. The aioli can be made a day ahead but becomes stronger as it sits. If you’re making the aioli more than 1 hour in advance, cover and refrigerate it until ready to serve. Aioli recipe by Georgeanne Brennan.
If you are intimidated by the aioli, stir one or two minced cloves of garlic and the juice of a lemon into ½ cup of store-bought mayonnaise.
Grand Aioli
Recipe serves eight. Ingredients:
• 3dozen mussels
• 2 pounds. Salmon, cod or halibut fillet
• 8-16 large prawns
• 8 hard-boiled eggs
• 24 small fingerling potatoes
• 24 small carrots — not the baby ones in a bag
• ½ pound fresh green beans
• 1-2 bunches red endive
• Romaine hearts or heads of little gem lettuce quartered
• 4large artichokes
• 1 large bunch asparagus
• 1 bunch radishes
• cucumber
• ½ cup dry white wine
• Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
These are suggestions — use five or more in-season vegetables and adapt the quantities and types of vegetable to your liking. I added tiny sungold tomatoes because they looked good and some oil-cured olives. Halibut, salmon, cod or hake can be used for the fish, or you might like to skip the white fish and cook additional mussels and prawns.
Instructions: Georgeanne uses poached salmon for the fish component: For eight people I use eight salmon fillets, each about 1/3 pound. I poach them in a large frying pan half filled with water, to which I add a ½ cup dry white wine, 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt, the juice of one lemon and a few sprigs of fresh tarragon. I simmer this mixture, covered for about 10 minutes, then add the fillets, and cook, spooning them with liquid, until they are just opaque and easily flake with a fork. I remove the fillets to a platter and cover them loosely with foil until serving. The salmon can be cooked in the morning and refrigerated, then brought to room temperature.
Fill a medium bowl about halfway with ice water.
Fill a pot with an inch or two of water, ½ cup wine, salt and lemon juice. Place the mussels in a steamer basket and bring the mixture to a boil, covered. Steam until the mussels open, then remove the basket and mussels to a plate to cool. Add a bit more water and the shrimp — cook until just pink, about 3 minutes. Transfer to ice water then paper towels and pat dry.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add two generous pinches of salt followed by the potatoes and eggs. If you want jammy egg yolks, remove the eggs after 7 or 8 minutes; if you prefer fully hard-boiled eggs, remove them after 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the eggs to a plate to cool.
After removing the eggs, add the green beans to the pot, and cook until bright green and tender, about 10 minutes. Using
a slotted spoon, transfer them to the bowl of ice water.
Check the potatoes; they should be fully cooked. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the potatoes to a serving platter.
Add the asparagus and cook until bright green and tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the asparagus to the ice bath. Peel and halve the eggs, placing them next to the potatoes on the platter.
While the vegetables and eggs cook, prepare the raw vegetables you plan to use: Halve the cherry tomatoes and the radishes. Cut the cucumbers and carrot into slices or fingersize pieces for dipping.
Remove the beans and asparagus from the ice water. Arrange the cooked and raw accompaniments around the aioli on the platter and serve with crusty baguettes and a crisp chilled rosé.
Feel the malaise lifting? Better days are coming. Don’t forget to vote!