Petit Aioli

Spring on a plate.

It’s been an absolutely wild week in the world of snacking dinners. After a super fun launch event at Omnivore Books in San Francisco about 10 days ago, my tiny crew took a road trip down to SoCal to do a talk and signing at Now Serving, a wonderful cookbook store in LA’s Chinatown. I brought some food—a mini version of the Sweet and Spicy Chilled Sesame Noodles from the book, and had a fantastic conversation with Hillary Dixler Canavan of the New Family Table newsletter. (We recorded our talk, so if I can get the audio to sound ok—it was just on our phones—I’ll share it in a future newsletter.)

I then spent the next four days prepping for a massive book launch party in Montecito, with a total of 65 guests and a few famous faces. It was an absolutely stunning party, and I’m still on cloud nine from all of the warmth and excitement. (I’ll post a few photos in a future newsletter.)

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Here’s my new book, SNACKING DINNERS! I’ve been so very thrilled by everyone’s enthusiasm and excitement for it. (We’ve already ordered a second printing!) If you’d like a signed book plate, feel free to message me in the app or respond to this email. And check out my book events page for upcoming talks, signings, and pop-ups in the Bay Area, New York, London, and more!

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Thankfully, I had the foresight to develop and photograph a recipe for this weekend before all this madness began—because while I’ve made lots of snacking dinners (and dozens of mini versions) this past week, I definitely have not had time to photograph anything new.

This week’s snacking dinner was inspired by the review Helen Rosner did of Crevette (a gorgeous little seafood spot in NY) that mentioned their petit aioli—a smaller version of a classic grand aioli, a Provencal platter of vegetables (both fresh and cooked until tender) and cold proteins (generally eggs and/or seafood, but sometimes also ham, cold chicken, etc, depending on who’s making it—all served with creamy homemade aioli. I’ll admit that I hadn’t thought about a grand aioli in a very long time, and the idea suddenly seems just so charming and lovely. It also felt like a perfect way to enjoy all the gorgeous spring vegetables I want to eat right now. I went right out to the market and made myself a mini version, sized for one, the next day.

My version, shown above, is a combination of raw vegetables (the snap peas, purple cauliflower, tomatoes, and some of the carrots), gently cooked vegetables (the remaining carrots, asparagus, and green beans) and roasted vegetables (the artichoke hearts—a lighter, no-frills version of something I have in my book). I also added an 8-minute egg (also from my book) and some par-boiled new potatoes, to make a light but filling dinner.

If you’re wary of eating a bunch of stuff dipped/slathered in aioli, because it seems like it would be unhealthy, set your mind at ease: it’s literally just egg (protein!) and good olive oil (healthy oleic acid! antioxidants!) seasoned with garlic and lemon. So, it’s basically the equivalent of dressing vegetables in a salad dressing and adding an egg on top. (Also, remember, this dish is from Provence, one of the healthiest food spots in the world.) If the thing that makes you nervous is that you’re using a raw egg, there’s an easy solution: buy high-quality eggs from a small producer. Bacteria on eggs is almost always the result of unsanitary conditions in large-scale egg facilities. Free-range birds housed in humane conditions produce very healthy, very safe eggs.

This recipe will make enough aioli for four servings—because smaller volumes won’t work in a regular food processor. If you don’t have four people eating, you can refrigerate the rest for 1–2 weeks and enjoy it on sandwiches.

Petit Aioli

For the Aioli
3 garlic cloves
1 large egg + 1 large yolk
¾ cup oil (mix of sunflower and flavorful extra-virgin olive oil)
Salt
2 big wedges of lemon, seeded

For the Plate
Raw, simmered, or blanched vegetables (cooking method below)
Boiled new potatoes
8-minute jammy egg (detailed recipe in Snacking Dinners cookbook)
Roasted artichoke hearts (method below)

1. Put the garlic in a food processor and pulse to break it into small pieces. Add the egg and egg yolk and run the processor to combine.

2. With the food processor running, slowly add the oil in a very thin, very steady stream. The thinner and steadier the stream, the better. When almost all the oil has been incorporated, the aioli will come together if you’ve been very patient and poured with a very steady hand.

3. Add a couple big pinches of salt and squeeze one of the wedges of lemon into the aioli, then run the processor to combine. Taste and add more as needed.

4. Transfer aioli to a small bowl or ramekin and arrange the other foods around it. Dip the vegetables into the aioli and spread it on the egg and potatoes as you eat.

Cooking the Vegetables

Blanching/Poaching Vegetables:

To make the vegetables extra fancy, peel the stems of asparagus spears and the skin of small carrots. (Cut any thicker carrots in half lengthwise.) Break the stem ends off of the green beans. Fill a medium bowl with water and ice.

Heat 3 inches or more of water in a large pan. When it boils, add the green beans and cook until their color darkens a little, then scoop them out and transfer them to the ice bath. Add the asparagus to the pan and simmer them until just tender (the timing will depend on the width of the spears), then transfer them to the ice bath. Add the carrots to the pan (and add a pat of butter if you like, to make them extra decadent). Simmer the carrots until tender; this takes longer than the other vegetables, often around 10 minutes. The carrots can be served warm or chilled.

Roasting Artichoke Hearts:

Heat the oven to 450°F. Toss the drained hearts in olive oil (if they weren’t already stored in oil) and season with some salt and pepper. Spread them out on a baking sheet and roast until the bottoms are brown and crispy, about 10 minutes, then flip them and continue to roast for another 5–10 minutes.

Photo: Georgia Freedman