Best Catalan Style Aioli Recipes

BULLINADA (CATALAN FISH STEW WITH AIOLI)

Steps:

• In a large pot, heat oil over medium. Add onions, stirring occasionally, and cook until they begin to soften, about 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic and cook until fragrant and lightly golden, 1 minute.
• Stir in saffron, and pour in fish stock and wine. Add potatoes, fennel seeds, orange peel, a large pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 25 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
• Season fish with salt and pepper. Remove orange peels from soup and add fish. Cook, covered, over medium-low heat until fish is opaque and flaky, 4 to 14 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Using a metal spatula or knife, break the fish into chunks.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, remaining garlic and Aleppo pepper. Slowly stir in a ladle of hot stock into mayonnaise mixture. Gently stir mayonnaise mixture into simmering soup. Heat through, without reaching a boil (the mayonnaise will curdle). Stir in parsley and taste, adding more salt if you'd like. When serving, garnish with more parsley and Aleppo.

HOMEMADE AIOLI

Steps:

• There are many stories about making aioli being an exercise of faith: sometimes, the olive oil blends and solidifies with the egg, and sometimes it doesn't, no matter how hard, long or fast the ingredients are whisked. It's happened to us, and then we learned. Time to teach magic.
• The success or failure of aioli comes in the first 10 minutes when the olive oil comes in contact with the egg and garlic.
• The two factors that make it work are 1/ mixing the egg with very small drops of olive oil at the beginning. If you add too much oil immediately, the aioli is missed beyond repair. You can add more oil, beat it harder, chances are it will remain liquid and never catch on. The first drops of olive oil make the initial chemical bonds that solidify the sauce and set the foundation for everything else. You can add oil faster later, at about 2cl rate, every 2-3 minutes. You'll see very quickly that from start to end, the sauce never gets liquid. If it's liquid, it's not aioli.
• Now, time for the secret number 2: garlic has emulsive chemical properties that directly contribute to the consistency of the sauce. Crush it all and add it to the mix from the very beginning. The amount of garlic is therefore both a matter of taste and necessity. Aioli can be quite strong if you put too much of it, and if you put too little you're risking upsetting the bonding process. Now you know the secret of making aioli and the preparation is a set of simple tasks.
• Separate the white and yolk of an egg by breaking the shell half open and gently dropping the yolk back and forth; the yolk must stay whole and not break during the process.
• Put the yolk, salt and crushed garlic inside a small bowl
• Add, as outlined above, very small drops of olive oil into the bowl and stir gently with a whisk; there is no need for an electric mixer or whisking particularly fast, just enough for ingredients to blend
• About one minute later, add a few more drops, again in very small amounts, whisk between oil increments. Keep adding oil in tiny amounts for the first 10 minutes until you have a thick base.
• The aioli, once 10cl of oil have been poured, becomes more solid and harder to stir. It may also get caught inside the whisk, which is fine. Carefully tap the whisk handle onto the bowl (holding the latter, naturally) and repeat occasionally to retain homogeneity of the sauce. You can add oil a little faster now, at about a 2cl rate.
• At the very end, add lemon juice to your taste. This will help smothen the sauce and give it a crisper, fresher color.

EASY ALLIOLI, CATALAN GARLIC SAUCE RECIPE

Steps:

• Roast the whole bulbs of garlic at 200C/Gas Mark for 30 minutes, until they feel soft to the touch. Allow to cool
• Peel the bulb and cloves: scrape the soft roasted garlic into the bowl of a small food processor, add pinch of salt and pulse for a few seconds scraping the sides down as you go.
• Add the egg and lemon juice, and blend together for a few seconds.
• Continue blending, and slowly drizzle in the oil, stopping from time to time to scrape the sides down.
• Once thick with a mayonnaise like consistency check the flavour and add a little more salt if needed.

CATALAN FIDEUà

Steps:

• Make the broth: Put 3 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and sauté until softened and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add small shrimp, garlic, hot pepper, fennel, coriander, bay leaf and thyme. Season generously with salt and pepper, stir to coat and cook 2 minutes more.
• Stir in tomato paste and cook 5 minutes, until mixture begins to look dry. Add fish bones, clams, 1 pound mussels and 8 cups water; cover and bring to a boil. Uncover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes.
• Strain through a sturdy mesh sieve into another pot, pushing on solids with a wooden spoon. Discard solids and keep strained broth hot. Taste for salt. Broth should be well seasoned. (Can be made ahead, though eat it within 24 hours, or you can freeze it.)
• Make the fideuà: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Put fideus noodles in a large roasting pan or baking sheet. (If using Italian pasta, break it into 2-inch lengths first.) Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil over noodles and toss with hands to coat. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, turning with tongs if necessary, until noodles are golden brown. (May be done in advance.)
• Place a cazuela or wide heavy pot on the stove. Add toasted noodles, pressing down a bit. Ladle 3 cups hot broth over noodles and bring to a boil. Push down on the noodles with a wooden spoon as they soften into the broth. Add saffron-infused water and cook for a minute, then stir to mix. Add enough hot broth to cover pasta by 1 inch. Lower heat and cook at a simmer for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more broth (and adjust heat) if mixture dries out.
• Scatter remaining 1 pound mussels over the top, then push them down until barely submerged. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, until shells open. Turn off heat. The noodles should be cooked but firm, and the mixture a little soupy.
• If using the large shell-on shrimp, season them and sauté in 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat for 2 minutes per side.
• Ladle into individual soup plates. Mix the parsley with the orange zest. Garnish fideus with shrimp, if using, the parsley mixture and a spoonful of allioli.