We had dinner out last night. I almost ordered the cold half-chicken with mayonnaise, and then stopped myself.
“Aaaah, I can make that at home.”
Which I can.
My BF has been (what I thought was) calling my bluff whenever I said stuff like that, coming back with:
“well, why don’t you, then?”
Which I promptly do. LIKE A SUCKER. Turns out, he doesn’t believe I can’t… he knows I can. And so I do, and he gets things on a weekend night like hollandaise sauce and cherry pie. Tch.
I am slow. Really slow, apparently, because I went ahead and made some mayo for my lunch today, which was roast chicken, which itself was another one of those… “well, why don’t you make it then?” scenarios.
Then I took pictures, and wrote down the recipe as I went, so here you go. Thanks, BF? I think??
I use rice bran or canola oil as a “carrier” oil because it is flavorless, inexpensive and I can use a lot of it, and add a bit of really nice EVOO to it for flavor. Makes a cup and a half-ish. Keep it in a clean, tightly closing container for up to 5 days. PS: I wrote a version in which you can substitute the raw eggs and oil for straight commercial mayo, too… read through to the bottom of the recipe for details.
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon fresh herbs like basil and oregano, chopped
- 3/4 cup “light” oil like canola or rice bran oil
- 1/4 cup very nice extra-virgin olive oil, don’t skimp!
- a squeeze of lemon juice, if desired
In a blender, puree the eggs, garlic, mustard, a few pinches of salt and pepper, and the fresh herbs together. With the motor running (through the hole of the lid on your blender, ideally), very slowly pour in the rice bran oil. Follow with the olive oil. Blend until very thick. Add more oil to thicken it further, but don’t go beyond a total of 2 cups of oil. Taste for flavor and adjust salt and pepper as desired, and add optional lemon juice if you like it a little more tangy.
TO SUBSTITUTE PREPARED MAYO:
Omit the eggs and 3/4 cup “light” or “carrier” oil (rice bran oil, or canola, etc) and simply whisk or puree the mustard, salt and pepper, fresh herbs and quarter cup of nice extra-virgin olive oil with 1-1/2 cups prepared plain mayonnaise.