Two Easy Flavored Mayonnaise Recipes
Fresh Summer Herb or Provençal Anchovy Mayonnaise
Here are two takes on a flavored mayonnaise to add pizzazz next time you cook fish. Either one would also make dynamite devilled eggs in place of regular mayonnaise. Good-quality store-bought mayonnaise and a food processor make these dead easy. Alternatively, you can make your own mayonnaise at home.
Fresh Summer Herb Mayonnaise
Yield: about 3 cups
This is a superb way to celebrate your herb garden. Of course you can buy the herbs in the store, but if you don’t have an herb garden, think about it for next year. They are expensive, and stores inevitably package them to sell you more than you need for your recipe.
What a joy to nip out to the garden and snip some tarragon or parsley (or cilantro or sage or oregano) from your garden. Maybe you’re even growing your own spinach, watercress and other salad greens.
- 1/2 lb spinach leaves
- 2 Tbsp chopped shallots
- 1/4 cup watercress leaves (stems removed)
- 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley
- 1 Tbsp tarragon leaves (or more to taste)
- 2 1/2 cups good quality mayonnaise
- Toss the spinach and all the herbs into a spall pot of boiling water. Cook for just one minute. Dump them immediately into a colander and rinse under cold running to stop the cooking.
- Pat them dry with a towel and transfer them to your food processor.
- Pulse a few times until they are chopped very fine. You don’t want a slurry. (Alternatively, you can chop them very fine.)
- In a medium bowl, add the mayonnaise and stir in the herbs until well blended. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Provençal Anchovy Mayonnaise
Yield: about 2 1/2 cups
Taste this, close your eyes, and you can almost feel the warm Mediterranean breezes caressing the coast of Provence. Anchovies may be an acquired taste, which is a shame, because in many dishes you might not know they’re an ingredient unless someone tells you. The little tins are good if you will use them all up in short order, but try to find anchovies packed in a jar.
- 2 cups good-quality mayonnaise
- 4-5 oil-packed anchovy fillets, finely chopped
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 2 hard-boiled egg yolks, pressed through a sieve or a ricer
- 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, minced
- 2 Tbsp capers, drained and minced
- 1 - 2 shakes of cayenne pepper (to taste)
- In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.
About Commercial Mayonnaise
All mayonnaises are not created equal. The author strongly recommends either Best Foods or Hellman’s.
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