Sunday night was a Thai food experiment. Crispy Catfish Mango Salad, Pad See Ew and Sticky Rice with Mango (one of the best desserts a body could ask for, AND completely vegan for whatever that’s worth). Two out of three success, with the main problem with the Pad See Ew being a purchase of the wrong kind of rice noodle (stick over sheet). Flavor was good, if you like an aftertaste of egg.
I don’t.
Anyhow, while I was sweating my way through an hour of sensory overload at the asian market, I picked up a cheap mortar & pestle, which I decided to christen with a few attempts at a garlic aioli. A few dozen attempts, I should say, with very little success. My goal was less of a paste and more of a partial mayonnaise — which, of course, is rather difficult when you’re avoiding the primary textural component of mayo, the egg. In the end, I broke down and dripped about half an egg’s worth of white into a mixture of 4 cloves crushed, a cup of oil, and too much salt. The end result is a slightly runny, but peaky enough to spread concoction that still has too much egg for my tongue.
I’ve been pointed towards mustard powder, as a source of lecithin. Damned if I think lecithin is my grail, but mustard would go well with the mixture so that’s on deck for the next dozen batches. After that, the pestle moves on to attempts at a persillade.
Anyhow. A runny, salty, almost-aioli still tastes like a million bucks, slapped on some toasted artisan bread with a thin layer of prosciutto, some thick slices of early tomatoes and a nice piece of aged provolone.
The guy talked me into some sour pickles to team with it. It didn’t take much convincing.
Price of meal:
1/8 rustic loaf @ $4.29
1c olive oil @ $40 / gallon:
1/2 head Chinese garlic @ $.25 / head
1/4 lb provolone @ $6 / lb
1/4 lb prosciutto @ $16 /lb
1 tomato @ $.97
1 sour pickle @ .98
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$10.60, with plenty of soggy aioli left over
