It’s that time again … Secret Recipe Club time!
Faithful readers of Rhubarb and Honey know that I’ve been participating in The Secret Recipe Club for awhile now. The idea of The Secret Recipe Club is similar to other blog exchanges in that each participating blogger is assigned another participating blog to make a recipe from, but the twist with The Secret Recipe Club is that you can’t tell anyone whose blog you have—shhhh, it’s a secret!—until you finally post about the blog you were assigned and the recipe you chose.
This month, my assigned blog was Fabulously Fun Food written by Melanie, who currently resides in Nashville. By day, Melanie is a biologist, but in the evenings, she’s in the kitchen, whipping up fabulously fun food!
I took a stroll through Melanie’s extensive list of recipes, and a number of them immediately jumped out to me: Korean Fried Chicken (seriously … how good does that sound?), Shredded Brussels Sprouts (I have a weakness for brussels sprouts), and Chocolate Guinness Cake (chocolate cake and Guinness, two great tastes that taste great together).
But, as amazing as those recipes sounded, I ended up choosing something a bit simpler … Meyer lemon aioli. Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Aioli? Just aioli? Yes, it’s simple … but it’s also something I’ve never made! Think of this as a way to start crossing things off my kitchen bucket list.
I couldn’t get my hands on any Meyer lemons, so I turned to The Chef for some suggestions. Since we had limes in the refrigerator, we decided to go with that. And since both of us like a touch of heat, we decided a dash of cayenne pepper would complete the flavor profile.
I also asked The Chef whether he had any tips for a virgin aioli maker, and he had one main word of advice … mustard. As The Chef explained to me, there’s a component in mustard that aids in the emulisifaction process, which generally means your aioli will turn out great … and in this case, it did!
Making aioli is truly a simple process; it took less than 10 minutes from start to finish, and the resulting product was absolutely delicious. We used our lime and cayenne aioli to brighten up roasted turkey sandwiches, but you could also use it as a sauce for grilled or roasted chicken or fish, as a dressing for salad, or even as a dipping sauce for fried artichokes or zucchini … the possibilites really are endless!
Lime and Cayenne Aioli
Ingredients:
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 raw egg yolk
- 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 small lime
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon champagne vinegar
- Dash of cayenne pepper
Directions:
1. On a cutting board, finely mince the garlic. Top the minced garlic with the salt. Using the side of your knife, smear the garlic and salt together until they form a smoothish paste.
2. Place the garlic paste in a large bowl; add the egg yolk, mustard, and the juice from the lime; whisk until combined.
3. Slowly add the olive oil to the bowl, in a light stream, continously whisking in a circular motion until smooth, creamy, and pale yellow. Repeat process with the vegetable oil until completely combined.
5. Add the champagne vinegar and cayenne; stir to combine. Taste, and if necessary, add a pinch of salt.
Notes: When I say “continuously whisk,” I mean “continuously whisk” … you’ll be whisking for a few minutes so start working out those biceps now in anticipation!
One additional note … The Chef and I use fresh farm eggs from a variety of local farmers in our recipes, and we didn’t hesitate to use a raw egg yolk from one of these eggs in this recipe. However, I understand many people have concerns or are just wary about using raw eggs or raw egg yolks in recipes. If this is the case for you, I suggest substituting a pasteurized egg product or commercial mayonnaise for the raw egg yolk or skipping this recipe all together.
To learn more about The Secret Recipe Club or to join in (you do have to have a blog with a decent number of recipes for others to choose from), click here to read about it and sign up!
