An easy-going summer supper: tender young vegetables from the farmer's market
served with garlicky aioli mayonnaise scented with lemon thyme.
Did I tell you that I grew up eating pink mayonnaise?
No Hellman’s for us. My mother made her own mayonnaise in the blender—an egg yolk, salt, lemon juice and then a steady stream of safflower oil. This was in the days before canola, and when olive oil was yellow and, well, oily, and mostly came in gallon cans from Paletta’s, the Italian grocery.
The pink? A hefty pinch of paprika. But pink mayonnaise did not move swiftly at my school’s annual Fiesta fundraiser. After all the pretty jams and angel food cakes had flown out of the “homemade” booth, there were usually a few mortifying jars of pink mayonnaise, labeled with my mother’s name, languishing on the table.
Too bad. Despite its color, that lemony mayonnaise was delicious, especially when slathered over slabs of ripe beefsteak tomatoes, still warm from the Texas sun. I was in college before I ever tasted store bought mayonnaise and it was years before I could bring myself to use it.
Visions of lemon mayonnaise were dancing in my head when I opened this week’s box from Elysian Fields Farm. It was filled with luscious early summer vegetables: tiny red beets, freshly dug new potatoes, pale yellow “lemon” cucumbers, and a bunch of small yellow and orange carrots. And yesterday I came home from the Farmer’s Market with even more little vegetables: red Juliet and bright Orange Blossom tomatoes, a handful of tender green beans and young, very pale green zucchini.
What better way to serve these delicate morsels than raw or steamed with a big bowl of homemade mayonnaise for dipping? OK, maybe not pink.
At 7 o’clock last night it was still 91 degrees: Too hot to think of eating much more than a platter of those lovely vegetables lying on the kitchen counter. I steamed the beets and green beans, boiled the new potatoes and left the rest raw. But instead of mayonnaise, I decided to go a few degrees upscale and made a sort of blender aioli with lemon juice, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and lots of lemon thyme from the garden. At the last minute I tossed a few slices of sourdough into a grill pan and served that too. It was delicious: all those delicate sweet vegetables were perfectly set off by the garlicky, lemon-scented aioli.
It goes without saying that you should forgo the stuff from Sam’s Club and splurge on a really good extra virgin olive oil for the aioli. I used bright green Cretalife, produced from organic Koroneiki olives on the Psillakis estate in the northwestern part of Crete. Despite a name that sounds like health food, this is a smooth, mildly fruity extra virgin olive oil with a peppery after bite. B and I discovered it in Sacramento, when we visited Darryl Corti after he spoke at U.C. Davis’s Sensory Evaluation of Olive Oil seminar.
All you need for supper are the vegetables and the aioli, though for a crowd you could add a bowl of mixed olives and fresh goat cheese sprinkled with olive oil and a scattering of fresh herbs. Either way, don’t forget a glass of Arbois from the Jura region of eastern France. This light, moderately fruity red wine is the perfect accompaniment for an easy-going summer repast.
Farmer’s Market Vegetables with Lemon Thyme Aioli
To serve 4
Ingredients for the aioli:
1 or 2 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 small bunch lemon thyme, or any fresh thyme
Method for the aioli:
1. Make the aioli at least two hours before you are ready to serve, so that the flavors can meld. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic with the salt until it is reduced to a liquid paste.
2. Scrape the garlic and salt (there should be at least one teaspoon) into the blender and add the egg yolk and lemon juice. Whirr to combine. Turning the blender speed to low, slowly pour in a thin stream of olive oil. (To prevent spattering, keep the top on, but just open enough to pour in the oil.) When most of the olive oil has been added, the aioli may become very thick and hard to blend. Turn off the motor, and stir with a rubber spatula. Turn the blender on again and keep adding oil until it is used up.
3. Scrape the aioli into a bowl. Remove the leaves from the wiry stems of the thyme and stir the leaves into the aioli. Cover and refrigerate.
Ingredients for the vegetables:
Choose any combination of tender, young vegetables that are available. Following is a list of what I used:
12 tiny beets (none larger than an inch in diameter)
12 new potatoes (1-1/4 inch in diameter or less)
1/4 pound green beans
1/4 pound red Juliet or cherry tomatoes
1/4 pound Orange Blossom or small yellow tomatoes
1 or 2 lemon cucumbers, or 1 small green cucumber
3 small zucchini, 3 to 4 inches in length
6 to 8 baby carrots
3 thick slices sourdough bread
Olive oil for grilling
Method for the vegetables:
1. Scrub the beets and cut off the tops and tails, leaving 1 inch of stems at the top. Place in the top of a steamer and steam over boiling water for about 30 minutes, or until they can just be pierced with a fork. Remove and set aside until they are cool enough to be handled. Rub off the skins under running water and set aside.
2. While the beets are cooking, scrub the potatoes. Put them in a pot with cold water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for about 25 minutes, or until they can be pierced with a fork. Let cool, cut in half and set aside.
3. Remove the stems and tips of the green beans, but leave whole. Steam for 3 to 4 minutes, until bright green but still crunchy. Remove and rinse under cold water. Drain and set aside.
4. Prepare the rest of the vegetables: If desired, cut the tomatoes in half. Scrub and slice the cucumber, leaving the peel on. Cut the zucchini lengthwise into halves or quarters. Remove the stems and tails of the baby carrots and peel. Cut in half if desired.
5. Prepare the bread: Rub a grill pan generously with olive oil and heat it over a medium flame until it is hot, but not smoking. Place the bread in the pan and grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until you can see the grill marks. Add more olive oil if necessary. When done, remove and cut into strips.
6. When ready to serve, put the aioli in a bowl in the middle of a large platter. Arrange the vegetables and bread around it, in any pleasing pattern. Serve with a glass of light red wine.