Alioli

A simple, traditional Spanish dipping sauce that packs a massive punch.

Ingredients

5T Olive oil
1t Vinegar
.25t Course salt
2 average garlic cloves

Add olive oil and vinegar and this is all you need in order to make Alioli. Easy.

Method

Usually this food is made with a pestle and mortar. I do not know about you, but I do not take one camping! Today, at home, I tried a campers version, using what most of us might have in a tent or camper van. It takes quite a time and is fairly hard work too, but it is well worth the effort.

Grate the garlic, with their skins on, ideally using a fine grater. Alternatively smash the cloves with a rock, or a knife and put your mashings into your little bowl.

Grate garlic into your little bowl
Add salt
Mash the grated garlic into the finest possible paste by using the back of your spoon pressed and rubbed against the side of your bowl
Add the vinegar to your bowl and carry on mashing your garlic, salt and vinegar together

Mashing garlic, salt and vinegar together

Now begin to add your oil a little at a time, mashing the garlic mix until it firms up and becomes creamy looking. I use half a teaspoonful of oil at a time, or less, and press the spoon very firmly and rapidly around and around the side of the bowl.

Only add more oil when your mix looks like this.

Repeat, dripping in the oil and madly mashing until you have a reasonable amount of paste.

I find this method does not give a very stiff dipping paste. It is more of a dipping sauce. A pestle and mortar gives fantastic results; did I mention that?

Here is some I made earlier by using our pestle and mortar.

The resulting sauce is delicious and is great when used for:-

Dipping bread into
Drizzling onto sushi before rolling them and dipping the sushi into at the table as you eat them.
Adding to curry just before serving
Dipping onion bhajis into
Adding to a marinade, say; lime, ginger and coconut.
Drizzle over pizza just before, or after cooking

Homemade Alioli made by using a pestle and mortar.

Making this simple food is simply hard work. Remember, nothing worth having comes easy.

We hope that you will give this little recipe a go. If you do, let us know how you get on and please pass on any tips or improvements. Please use the reply button below, or press ‘like’ to register your approval.

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Pizza

Grab a packet of tortilla wraps. Any size will do, but they must sit flat in the bottom of your cast iron pan and under your saucepan lid, ideally.

Before you strike a match, prepare all vegetables, including your salad.

Gather all the tools and pans you will need.

Tomato base:

*1T Oil

*1 Tin of tomatoes

*1T tomato puree

*1T herbs – any Italian

*1 finely chopped onion

*1 grated garlic clove

Method 1:

1. Put oil in the saucepan and heat gently

2. Add all the other ingredients and simmer for 2 – 5 minutes without a lid. The more finely that things are chopped, the faster they will cook and the smoother the look. At home? Whizz it.

3. Once reduced a little, mash with a spud masher, turn off the and allow to cool.

Prepare your toppings:

*3 or 4 types of thinly sliced, quick cook/Mediterranean vegetables; have what you fancy.

*Cheese – sliced or broken Mozzarella, goats. Grated cheddar, parmigiana, smoked; as much or little of the one/s you like.

*Fish or meat – ready or quick cook is best

*Fun bits – Herbs, freshly squeezed lemon juice, chilli flakes, pepper. Scatter all over each pizza just before popping it on the heat.

Method 2:

1. Put the lid on your cast iron pan and heat gently until you think it’s medium hot.

2. Build your first pizza. Do not over pile with stuff, as the bottom will overcook before the topping has fully warmed. Less is more with these little critters.

3. Place the built pizza into your pre-heated, cast iron pan and cover with the smallest lid you have. You have now made a tiny oven. You can place a folded tea towel on top of the lid to help conserve the heat.

4. Build the next pizza while the first one cooks.

4. Give your first pizza a few minutes and then check and adjust the heat to get a perfect finish; crispy, brown bottom and hot, gooey top. You know they are cooked when the cheese has melted.

5. You will now have a production line.

Serve with a lightly dressed salad:-

Plain English – lettuce, Cucumber, Tomato

Moroccan – Finely diced tomato, red onion, cucumber

Tropical – Vegetables; a little of what you fancy, plus fresh and/or dried fruit, diced in, apple, orange, mango, pear …. one type of fruit or a mixture.

Tropical nut – As the ‘Tropical Salad’ but with added diced nuts and seeds ….. any combo works.

Wally’s Moroccan Supper

There wasn’t a lot of choice in Morocco for a hungry vegetarian, or so it seemed. Generally we could have a Vegetable Tagine, or nothing, apart that is for a good range of meat and fish dishes, usually served as tagines.

If that sounds a bit dull, it was not, as every Vegetable Tagine was different. The vegetables are those that are available locally on the day and the sauce is what ever the cook decides to use; meat stock, fish stock, vegetable stock, who knows! I expect this is why Wally’s is similar to the ones we ate; but not the same.

Ingredients: For 2 people

*A pint of hot, thin stock, do not worry about the colour, but it must have a good flavour.

*A selection of vegetables cut into 1” by about 5” strips. Choose for colour and flavour. Prepare enough to make one or two layers in your pan, depending on it’s depth and your hunger.

* 2 Tomatoes, part of a red onion, 2ins of cucumber, to make a Moroccan salad.

* A small loaf of bread.

Method

1. Place the vegetable into your cast iron pan so that they radiate from the centre, like the spokes of a wheel, or panels in an umbrella. Arrange the colours so that it looks pretty.

2. Pour over the Stock

3. Put on a lid and simmer until the vegetables are cooked to a meltingly soft state.

4. The stock should go thick and sticky on the bottom. If it gets too thick before the vegetables are done, add a little hot water. If the stock is thin and runny when the vegetables have cooked through, take off the lid and let it simmer away until ready.