Originally posted by Jess – March 25, 2015
Whenever there are tomatoes, greens, and bacon in the share box, I can’t help but make a Springdell BLT. It’s kind of imperative. In my humble opinion, the Springdell BLT is absolutely the best in the middle of summer when the tomatoes are at their peak, and fresh from Scratch Flat. We are fortunate as our fabulous Springdell farmers certainly have connections to bring us the best produce year-round! The tomatoes from Share Box #10 are from a sister farm in Maine, and probably as close as you can get to a summertime tomato without being a summertime tomato. The delicious Springdell bacon and fresh peppery arugula helped convince my taste buds that it could actually be a summertime BLT. Adding the zippy and home made garlic aioli in lieu of the traditional mayonnaise just sends this sandwich over the top.
I usually cook my Springdell bacon on parchment paper in a preheated 400 degree oven. It’s fine in the frying pan too, just less time consuming for me to stand there and flip. Always be sure to save your bacon fat, (I usually keep mine in a recycled pickle or jelly jar) as there are many wonderful things that can happen when you revisit the liquid gold.
Here are the veggies and aioli awaiting the “B” in the “BLT”.
Yup, all is now right in the world.
So let’s talk about the Garlic Aioli. If you’ve never made it, it’s fairly simple. In my opinion, it’s so worth taking the extra few minutes to make aioli in place of store bought mayo. It adds that extra punch of flavor and freshness. The only trick to aioli or homemade mayo is to drizzle the oil into your other ingredients while whisking and emulsifying so you do not “break” the aioli. (If you put everything in at once and then process it, you just end up with bits of ingredients floating in oil versus the creaminess that we desire.)
This is a CSA365 first, (and hopefully not the last), but here is a quick video of the Springdell Garlic Lime Aioli in action. I wanted to video to be short and sweet so if you’d like more details, here is the written recipe as well.
- 2 cloves garlic
- coarse salt
- 1 fresh egg yolk
- 2 tsp lime juice
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Mash the garlic with the use of a garlic press, or finely mince before sprinkling with a liberal pinch of kosher salt and mashing it into a paste carefully using the side of your knife
- Add all ingredients except oil to a sturdy mixing bowl whisking until well combined
- VERY slowly at first (so as not to “break” the aioli) start to drizzle in your olive oil while constantly whisking it.
- Keep the whisk/drizzle process going until the olive oil is incorporated and the desired thickness is reached. (It will be slightly less thick than mayo).
- Lemon juice also works in this recipe
- If you don’t trust your raw egg yolk, you can always scald it before adding it to your aioli
- Season to taste with salt, pepper, herbs, whatever you want!
- this simple aioli can store for up to two weeks in the fridge
- Lemon juice also works in this recipe.
- If you don’t trust your raw egg yolk, you can always scald it before adding it to your aioli
- Season to taste with salt, pepper, herbs, whatever you want!
- This simple aioli can store for up to two weeks in the fridge.
Do you already make aioli? Any variations you’d care to share here with your fellow Springdellians? We’d love to hear from you!