Roasted Garlic Maple Aioli

If you’ve followed us for more than about 2 hours you’ll know we LOVE breakfast and brunch! Weekday breakfasts we mostly keep simple and I often eat something on the sweet end, but weekends are for long and lazy brunches and those are all about some form of aioli or hollandaise to eat with roast veggies and eggs!  Aioli and hollandaise are similar but the key (non technical) difference for me is that aioli can be made ahead and is forgiving, and when I’m cooking for a crowd, hollandaise raises my adrenaline levels more that I need at 10am. So we usually run with a good aioli.  For a recent 30th birthday party we made a fresh spring basil aioli so planning our Labor Day brunch I wanted something different and we went for a rich roasted garlic and maple aioli.  This was a meat free brunch, but this one pairs really well with bacon 😉 It’s also a meal in itself with a pile of sweet potato wedges, and adds a perfect finish to a sandwich or slice of avocado toast.  When I know I’m making a batch I put all the aioli loving meals in our meal plan and we eat it for a week. Even the baby loves it, on anything! 

 

 

You will need: 

1 bulb of garlic

6 egg yolks, at room temperature

Juice of 1 1/2 lemons medium sized lemons

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1 tbsp maple syrup

A good pinch salt

1 cup avocado oil (this is great because it’s a relatively flavorless oil that won’t overpower the aioli. Sidetone: It’s also a great high heat oil that’s stable for frying, it’s the one we use for most things!)

Makes about 16oz – enough for a happy brunching crowd. (It can also be stored in the fridge for up to a week and used in different dishes.)

Start by roasting the bulb of garlic.  Preheat the oven to 350F (or roast it while you’re already cooking something else at a similar temperature – turning the oven on in the heat here just for a bulb of garlic is something I try not to do!) Cut the top off the bulb, the pointy end, so that just the tip of each clove is visible.  Now place it in a ramekin, spoon over 3-4 tablespoons of the oil and bake it for about 40 minutes until the cloves are soft.  Allow it to fully cool.

When it is fully cool remove the softened cloves out of the bulb by squeezing from the bottom end like a tube of toothpaste! You can squeeze them directly into a food processor or blender bowl.  Now add in the egg yolks, maple syrup, dijon, salt, and lemon juice. Blend those ingredients together for 10-15 seconds until the garlic is smooth and they are all well combined.

Now using the funnel in the top of the food processor or hole in the blender lid, slowly (very slowly) add in the avocado in a steady stream.  You need to add it slowly to give the mixture inside time to emulsify as you add the oil. It might take 1-2 minutes to add it all in.  Now you can seal it in a glass jar and store it in the fridge ready to use!

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