Best Bagna Càuda And Aioli Recipes

BAGNA CAUDA

Steps:

• Put the oil in a pan with the garlic and anchovies and cook over low heat, stirring, until you have a melted, muddy mess. Everything should begin to meld together. Whisk in 6 tablespoons of butter, and as soon as it has melted, remove from the heat and give a few more beats of your whisk so that everything is creamy and amalgamated. Taste, and if you feel you want this as a dipping sauce - which is meant to be pungent but not acrid. If you want the sauce a little more mellow, whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Pour into a dish that, ideally, fits over a flame so that it does not get cold at the table.
• Dip in the crudites and eat.

BAGNA CàUDA (NORTHERN ITALIAN ANCHOVY-GARLIC DIP) RECIPE

Steps:

• Trim garlic cloves; if desired, halve lengthwise and remove germ from center. (Very developed green germs can add a subtle bitterness to the sauce, though our tests with younger garlic showed no noticeable difference between batches made with and without a more beige germ.) Slice garlic.
• In a small saucepan, combine garlic and milk or water, bring to a gentle simmer, and cook until garlic is soft, about 10 minutes.
• Drain garlic well. Wipe out saucepan, then return garlic to saucepan and cover with olive oil. Cook over very low heat until garlic is very soft and can easily be smashed with a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes.
• Add anchovies and cook, stirring and smashing, until they have fully dissolved into the sauce. Continue smashing the garlic and anchovies until a thick purée forms. (If desired, you can very quickly purée the bagna càuda with an immersion blender to make an even smoother sauce.)
• Serve hot with raw vegetables and slices of roasted onion (if using).

BAGNA CAUDA

Steps:

• In a hot pan, pour a good amount of olive oil in. When the oil starts to warm up, add garlic and turn the flame down.
• Add the anchovies, if using (don't worry about mincing them as they will dissolve in the mixture). The anchovies should cook in the garlic oil until the garlic becomes brown and the anchovies dissolve.
• When the garlic gets light brown, about 5 minutes, add chili flakes until they toast up and then turn flame off. Add more olive oil and salt and pepper for flavor.
• Right before you heat the sauce in your fondue pot, add some minced parsley to cook in the sauce.

BAGNA CàUDA AND AIOLI

Steps:

• First, figure out how many vegetables you need to serve your guests. Then, for the vegetables, sit down in a garden chair with a bottle of rosé or pastis, a cutting board on your knees, and a good paring knife. Throw the peels straight into the garden.
• To make the aioli, combine the oils in a measuring pitcher. In a food processor, combine the potato, egg yolks, egg, and as much of the garlic as you like and process until smooth. (Potato is added to the traditional aioli for texture; you can also use bread that has been soaked in milk.) With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the combined oils. The mixture should emulsify with no problem. Keep a glass of warm water handy, however, in case the mixture splits. If it does, immediately add a spoonful or two of the water, pulsing as you add. When all of the oil has been added, season with salt and pepper. To finish, add the lemon juice. Refrigerate until serving.
• To make the dip, in a small saucepan, combine the cream and anchovies and simmer over medium-low heat until the cream is reduced by one-third. Bring the heat down to low, and, using a hand blender, blend in the garlic and oil. Using a hand whisk, delicately whisk in the butter a few cubes at a time. The mixture may break and split. If it does, add an ice cube and whisk again. Season generously with salt and pepper and serve warm. If the weather is chilly, keep the dip warm on a fondue warmer on the very lowest setting.
• Serve the vegetables along with the garnishes of your choice in a nice bowl or arranged on a platter along with the dip and aioli.
• I AM FORTUNATE TO SPEND A FEW WEEKS of each summer in the small town of Keremeos in the Similkameen Valley, in the interior of British Columbia. It is beautiful and hot, and has good wine and great farms. Not too hippie, not too "the man," but just right. A guy named Yuri and his wife farm there, growing (among other things) the best Russian garlic: big, red, and curved like the roof of the Kremlin. It's what I imagine opium must feel like to touch, sticky and rich. You can shave it like you would a truffle. I buy a few hundred bucks' worth of it every year and I keep it at home and not at the restaurant as I don't think I have the self-control needed to politely explain to a cook that you don't half-assly fill your stockpots with it. I don't get high like that on produce often; in fact it irritates me when others do it. So I guess I'm using my wild card here.

CLASSIC BAGNA CAUDA

Steps:

• Combine the butter and oil in a saucepan and add the garlic. Cook over the lowest heat for 15 minutes without letting the mixture boil.
• Chop the anchovies and add to the oil. Stir until the anchovies dissolve. Do not let the sauce boil or brown. Season with salt if needed. Keep hot over a candle or spirit lamp. (See note.)
• Prepare an assortment of raw vegetables, like cucumber, cauliflowerettes, strips of green pepper, celery, carrots and endive. Serve separately for dipping.

BAGNA CAUDA

Steps:

• In a small sauté pan, heat olive oil, garlic, lemon and anchovies over a very low flame until mixture just begins to bubble, about 2 minutes. Add capers and parsley, stir and simmer a minute longer. Anchovies will break up. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off flame, and serve in pan as a dip for julienned vegetables and cubes of a Tuscan-style loaf or a baguette.