Long evenings and warm weather are a great excuse to feast with good friends; there are few better ways to have a brilliant summer.
Today’s spread, paired with a green salad and fresh, crusty bread, is simple and utterly delicious. The only snag is that your guests must love garlic! This is a classic, and with very good reason.
Le grand boeuf aioli with summer crudités and grilled lamb cutlets
Seek out the freshest, sweetest vegetables to make this really shine, swapping in whatever is looking its best.
Prep 45 min
Cook 5 min
Serves 4-6
2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into thick strips
2 heads chicory, leaves separated
1 bunch radishes, washed
6 carrots, peeled and cut into long pieces
750g Cornish new potatoes, or other waxy variety, steamed until tender
1 young fennel bulb, cut into thumb-width batons
4 eggs, boiled for 8 minutes, peeled and halved
For the aioli
2 small garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
2 egg yolks
2 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp good-quality white-wine vinegar
1-2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
250ml extra-virgin olive oil
250ml vegetable oil
For the lamb
8 lamb cutlets, untrimmed
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed with a little salt
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp paprika
Salt and black pepper
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Start by marinating the lamb. Put each cutlet between two sheets of greaseproof paper and bash them with a rolling pin until they are only a few millimetres thick. Put them in a bowl with the crushed garlic, spices, a few large pinches of salt and the oil, and rub together. Put in the fridge.
To make the aioli, put the garlic in a tall measuring jug with the egg yolks, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice and several large pinches of salt. Blitz with a stick blender for 30 seconds, then, still blending, slowly start adding the olive oil in a thin, steady trickle. After a minute, increase the trickle to a thin stream, continuing to blend. Once you have poured in all the olive oil, pour in the vegetable oil, now in a thicker stream, until combined. Taste and add more lemon juice or salt, if needed. Transfer to a serving bowl, then put in the fridge.
Prepare all the vegetables, arrange them on serving plates, and keep them under a clean, damp tea towel until you are ready to eat.
Half an hour before you are ready to cook, bring the lamb out of the fridge to come to room temperature, and season well with salt and pepper. After half an hour, heat a griddle pan over a high heat and, once smoking, grill the lamb for one to two minutes on each side, until golden and caramelised. Alternatively, cook under a very hot grill. Rest for a few minutes, then serve with the crudites, boiled eggs and aioli.
And for the rest of the week
The aioli is delicious with almost anything: accompany with boiled globe artichokes for a lovely dinner, or dollop on a bowl of braised, soupy summer peas, shallots and lettuce; or use to accompany a salad nicoise or crisp roast chicken .
