Happy October. Hope it’s a glorious October as so many so often are. Doncha just love Autumn? Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness as someone way out of copyright once said.
I was hungry today mid-afternoon. Had done my now usual trick of hoping a big breakfast would keep me going till teatime. Didn’t happen. Needed to eat. Nothing in. Nibbling on Paleo isn’t easy unless you’re organised. I wasn’t. What to do? I know, thought I. I’ll boil an egg. Eggs are dieter’s friend. Filling, quick, easy, cheap. Paleo. But I didn’t have any mayonnaise and a hard-boiled egg without mayonnaise is like tonic without gin. So I decided to make some. I mean come on, how hard can it be?
Drip drip drip…
I had no recipe by my side but knew alls I needed was a yolk and some oil. Perhaps a bit of flavouring too. So I carefully separated an egg and whisked the egg yolk while very slowly dripping in extra virgin olive oil. Whisk whisk whisk. Drip drip drip. It didn’t curdle. It kind of thickened a bit like pale custard.
I tasted it. Eeow! All I could taste was oil! So I presumed I’d put enough in – though in reality wasn’t very much at all. I add a teeny tiny bit of dijon mustard and a few grains of sale. Tasted again. Lovely! It worketh.
Egg mayonnaise
By then my egg had boiled so I took it out the pan and plunged it into a bowl of cold water – don’t you just love a bit of plunging of a Tuesday afternoon? Shelled it, cooled the egg in cold water again, quartered it, poured some of my runnyish mayonnaise over it et voila! Eggs mayonnaise.
The mayonnaise was thick enough to “make the ribbon” as in when you whisk eggs if you’re making a true sponge cake – don’t talk to me about cakes! I am missing them more than I miss being eight years old. I’ve no idea if it’s supposed to make like a ribbon but it tasted good. Not shop bought or restaurant made. Homemade. By me.
Adventurous
Now that I’ve made one of the most difficult dishes that even foxes chefs sometimes – for whose mayonnaise hasn’t curdled? Well, actually, mine! – I am feeling adventurous and that it might be time to move onto a soufflé! Never done one of them either. But I do love eggs and I always have them in. A soufflé omelette sounds grand doesn’t it? So does a baked on. I may just have a go…
Enjoy rest of your week.