Quick and Easy Lemon Aioli
Lemon Aioli is a wonderful creamy dip or sauce with a bright lemony tang and a savory mellow garlic flavor.
It’s a perfect accompaniment to my Piquant Roasted Root Vegetables.
To make my quick and easy Aioli I unashamedly use a good quality store-bought mayonnaise that I lighten up with a little plain yoghurt.
Of course, without garlic aioli is simply mayonnaise. I add roasted garlic, or garlic confit to the mayonnaise for a sweeter, mellower garlic flavour. If you prefer a stronger more assertive garlic flavour you can use a finely minced clove of raw garlic instead.
For a burst of lemony goodness, I add my not-so-secret ingredient, preserved lemon. If you don’t have preserved lemon you can substitute the juice and zest of a small lemon, but it won’t have quite the same burst of Intense, concentrated lemon flavour.
Preserved lemons are quite easy to make at home, so you should definitely consider for next time! See my post Preserved Lemons for Your Pantry for details on how to make your own.
The Garlic
For a mellower, slightly sweeter garlic flavour to the aioli, roast a head of garlic or confit the cloves in some olive oil. Both methods will result in buttery soft, sweet, mellow flavoured garlic.
Roasted Garlic
Preheat oven to 400°. Slice off the top of the head of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil, then wrap in foil and place in a shallow oven proof dish.
Roast the garlic until golden and soft, about 40 minutes.
Let cool, then squeeze out the garlic cloves to use.
Garlic Confit
Separate the garlic into individual cloves and place in a small saucepan (the cloves can be peeled, or unpeeled). Cover with olive oil and heat over med-low heat until the oil comes to a simmer. Turn off the heat and let the cloves cook in the hot oil until they are tender and golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Let cool, then remove the cloves from their skin, it should come away easily. Place the cloves with the oil in an air-tight container.
How do I use my Lemon Aioli?
There are so many ways to use this delicious garlicky, lemony aioli I hardly know where to start!
1. Use it as a dip for raw or cooked vegetables. It’s absolutely amazing with asparagus!
2. Try it as a sauce, spooned over grilled salmon, or chicken.
3. Replace plain mayo with aioli in egg or tuna salad sandwiches.
4. Add some anchovy and capers to turn your aioli into a delicious dressing for a tuna or salmon niçoise style salad.
5. Whisk some aioli in with eggs for the tastiest scrambled eggs.
Ingredients
- 3-4 roasted or confit garlic cloves (or 1 clove raw garlic, finely minced)
- ½ preserved lemon (or zest and juice of a small lemon)
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup plain low-fat yoghurt
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients into a food processor, blender or a bowl if using a hand-held immersion blender.Purée until smooth. The aioli will be thick and creamy with little flecks of yellow from the lemon zest.