Garlic Basil Aoili

April 6, 2012Katie

We made this mayonnaise on my Rise & Shine TV segment today – if you missed the show, click play below to watch! And as always, you can view past videos by going to the top taskbar and clicking on Dishin and Rise and Shine!

Have you ever had homemade mayonnaise?

It’s so delicious, thick and succulent. Add a flavor in like garlic or herbs and you’ve got a to drool for aioli. In fact both are made the same way except for the addition of extras. However, whichever way you slice, er….blend it, homemade mayonnaise or aioli will make you want to leave the store bought stuff behind.

I happen to have a ridiculous amount of basil in my herb garden right now, and am trying to find new ways to use it so I decided to go the aioli route today but you can follow the steps below to make plain ol’ mayonaisse by omitting the garlic and basil and substituting white for black pepper.

And with just a few ingredients and a food processor, you can whip it up in no time flat.

Start out with 4 extra large egg yolks, that have been separated from their whites. The size will matter of the egg yolks, so if you use regular or just large egg yolks, use an additional on and make it five.

Take a lemon and squeeze it into a bowl.

You’ll need about one and one-half tablespoons of lemon juice. This came to about half of the large lemon I was using. Go ahead and pour the lemon juice right into the processor bowl with the egg yolks.

Then chop up a clove of garlic.

Add it into the processor along with 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper.

If you were making straight mayo, I’d probably suggest using white pepper to keep the color nice and pristine, but since we’re going to add herbs, it really doesn’t matter here. If you do decide you want plain mayonnaise, skip the garlic and go on to the next step.

Process up this mixture for about 20 seconds.

It will be runny and yellow and sunny looking.

We need to do something with a fancy sounding word here – we need to emulsify the mixture. We’ll do that by adding in some oil. The oil will suspend the rest of the mixture and thicken it up and make it lovely and creamy. It’s your choice here what oil you want to use. You can use vegetable, canola or olive oil. If you want a more heart-healthy option use all olive oil. I chose to use half and half today.

I added one cup of canola oil first – you drizzle it through the top of the processor through the hole and do it slowly. After that add in one cup of olive oil. Whichever oil you choose, use two cups total.

What you’re looking for is a thick creamy consistency so stop after one and one half cups and see how it looks. If it’s nice and thick, then just stop and don’t add anymore. You can watch through the sides as well to see when it thickens up. (Scroll down for a picture of the final result).

Next, chop up a cup of fresh basil leaves…just roughly as the processor will do the fine chopping.

Toss them right into the processor on top of your mayonnaise.

Put the lid back on and whiz it up for about 30 more seconds.

Spread this on a sandwich made of bacon, lettuce, freshly sliced garden tomatoes and you have a the makings of the perfect lunch. And for an added yummy bonus, add some slices of avocado.

This mayonnaise screams summer, goodness and sunny days. Try it today!