Winter’s Harvest of Italian Parsley to Garlic Aioli

Every season in our garden brings new surprises. A fruit tree will finally find a sweet spot with it’s roots and explode in size, or a new variety of rose that we decided to try exceeds our best expectations. For this winter, one of our great surprises has been the afterthought late planting of a herb. In the past, we’ve always done our planting of herbs in the spring or summer. We’ll grow dozens of varieties from common thyme to essential Viet herbs that will be used in our cooking. This fall while picking up some supplies at Home Depot, we saw an Italian Parsley near the register so decided to throw it in the ground back home. Ours had pretty much petered out, and never was too happy in it’s location this last summer. This fall planting was put in as a filler in a nearby spot, then left to weather the impending cool months that rolled in. Now a few months later, “Mama Mia!” is it huge.

I’ve never seen parsley this large, tender, and fragrant. Grab a handful of stems for a dish & the plant doesn’t blink an eye. Desire some for garnish, there is no need for sloppy random chopping, you can cigar roll these beauties and slice them clean & tight. Being that we just found some decent artichokes at the grocer, it’s time to replenish our supply of aioli. Mash some garlic, finely chop the parsley then mash it with the garlic again, add some Best Foods mayo (the other brands, even the fancy ones, just don’t seem to be as good of a match) and that’s it. 10 minutes tops and you’ve got some excellent aioli that will improve your sandwiches, give a dip to your veggies or baguettes, and will even make a Frenchie happy to eat it (ours has again & again.)

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Aioli Recipe

In 10 minutes you can craft this kitchen staple. Aioli will often serve as that “secret ingredient” which makes one sandwich superior to another. Another added bonus is that it will keep nearly as long as mayo (close to forever). We highly recommend only using Best Foods mayo. Everything else we’ve tried (including making our own mayo) is usually either not as tasty or just too rich for many of the uses aioli will be put to. We didn’t put quantities because everyone’s aioli should reflect their personalities. You can make it mild or garlicky enough to make you cry. Do everything to taste, but remember to be generous with the parsley and a little garlic goes a long way with this recipe. We always make this in a mortar & pestle, so if you don’t have one, either get one or else you are on your own for experimentation.

Ingredients
Garlic Cloves
Italian Parsley Leaves
Mayonnaise (Best Foods)

1. Crush garlic cloves in mortar & pestle until well mashed.

2. Finely chop Italian parsley leaves. Add to mortar & pestle & crush with garlic again.

3. Add a several spoonfuls of mayo to garlic/parsley mix in mortar, stir with pestle until all garlic & parsley are scraped from sides and are homogeneously mixed with mayo. Transfer to container you will store the aioli in (make sure it is large enough to accommodate additional mayo that you’ll be adding). Continue adding mayo until is it at your preferred garlickiness.

Store in fridge. Over time garlic flavor will slightly intensify, so more mayo may be needed later.

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