Ingredients:
1/2 bunch Fresh Chives
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt to taste

Directions:
1. Rinse the chives briefly under very hot running water to blanch them.

2. Put them in a blender and blend, drizzling in the olive oil, until a smooth oil forms. Blend in the salt.

Note: While blending, make sure the mixture doesn’t get hot from the blender engine (if it starts to warm up, stop the blender briefly to let it cool) as too much heat can discolor the chives.

3a. For Rustic Chive Oil – Strain the oil through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl over ice.

3b. For “Clarified” Chive Oil – Line a fine mesh strainer with several layers of cheese cloth. Put the strainer over a bowl and pour in the chive oil. Move the bowl & strainer to your fridge & let strain overnight for perfectly clear light-green oil.

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Basic Herb Oil Technique
Fresh Herb Recipes
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How to Make a Basic Vinaigrette:

The classic ratio of a vinaigrette is 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil. For more tang, use a little more vinegar. Mustard helps to emulsify (marry the oil & vinegar) the vinaigrette.

Here’s the basic recipe:
1 cup oil
1/3 cup vinegar
1 large minced shallot
1 teaspoon mustard
Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Add vinegar, shallots, salt, pepper and mustard (if using) to a mixing bowl.
2. Whisk, slowly adding oil to taste.

Wasabi Vinaigrette Recipe:

Ingredients:
½ large shallot
½ tsp dark sesame oil
¾ tsp soy sauce
3+ tsp fresh wasabi rhizome
½ cup rice wine vinegar
½-2/3rd cup vegetable oil 

How to Make Wasabi Vinaigrette: 

1. Finely dice the half shallot.  Grate the fresh wasabi root & let it rest 10 minutes, covered (How to Use Fresh Wasabi).

2. Combine the shallot with the sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar in a bowl.

3. Whisking constantly, drizzle in the oil until the mixture forms a uniform emulsion.

4. Add your rested grated wasabi to taste (you’ll likely need at least 3 tsp).

Variations: You can substitute more sesame oil for some of the vegetable oil (carefully! It’s strong stuff) to make your vinaigrette richer, or increase the soy sauce. Either of these changes will diminish the effect of the wasabi unless you add more to compensate.

Other Vinaigrette Flavors to Try:

a. Champagne vinegar (because it has a subtle flavor and allows the other ingredients to shine through), extra virgin olive oil and Dijon mustard.
b. Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a pinch of fresh basil and Dijon
c. One of Justin’s favorites, is to use camelina oil, left-over pickle brine (waste not, want not!) and a bit of truffle honey.
d. replace some of the vinegar with homemade chile infused vinegar to add some heat to your vinaigrette.
e. Use storebought or homemade preserved lemons in this preserved lemon vinaigrette recipe.
f. White Truffle Oil or Black Truffle Oil can also be substituted for olive oil and have an intense earthy, truffle-y flavor.

Warm vinaigrettes are nice as well. Simply deglaze a pan with the vinaigrette for more complex flavor.  For an example warm vinaigrette recipe, see our Tomato Anchovy Vinaigrette Recipe.

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Fresh Wasabi Recipes

How to Make Mayo/Aioli by Hand
(already know the method? Skip to the aioli recipes)

1. Whisk together the egg yolk(s).

2. Add your flavoring ingredients (for plain mayo, use a splash of white/champagne vinegar and a pinch of salt) to the yolks & whisk to combine.

3. Optional: place a thin towel over a large pot and use it as a rest for the bowl.  This makes it easier to whisk while drizzling.

4. Start drizzling the oil into the yolks in small drops, while whisking constantly.  As the mixture starts to come together, you can start adding the oil in larger quantities.

5. Continue whisking in oil until you reach your desired consistency.  If you add a little too much oil, try adding a touch of water to get the yolks to grab the extra oil.

6. Taste & add salt, any folded in flavoring ingredients, and additional acid (lemon juice, vinegar, etc.) as needed. If the aioli is too thick, but you don’t want to add additional acid, you can also thin with a little water.

How Much Oil Should You Use?

The amount of oil a single egg yolk can emulsify is the subject of ongoing debate.  Some people/books will tell you not to go above a half cup per yolk, others will say you can go up to a cup, but no higher.

In the food science tome On Food and Cooking, author Harold McGee writes:

“A single yolk can emulsify a dozen cups of oil or more.  What is critical is the ratio of oil to water…for every volume of oil added, the cook should provide about a third of that volume in the combination of yolks, lemon juice, vinegar, water or some other water based liquid.”
(2nd ed, pg 634)

Which Oil Should You Use?

Pretty much any oil can be used to make mayo/aioli as long as you take the flavor of that oil into account.  We’ve used grape seed, olive oil and vegetable oil and blends of oils with great results.

McGee doesn’t recommend using extra virgin olive oil as the sole oil in your mayo/aioli (as a smaller part of an oil blend to add flavor should be fine), because the compounds that give EVOO its different mouth feel, stronger flavor and lower smoke point can make emulsions unpredictably unstable.

Handmade Mayo/Aioli Recipes

While aioli is technically a mayonnaise flavored with garlic (and other ingredients if desired), the term is often used to refer to any flavored mayo, whether it has garlic in it or not. 

Mustard & Cider Vinegar Aioli
2 Egg Yolks
1 tbsp Whole Grain Mustard
1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 cup Olive Oil
1 tsp Fresh Chives, sliced
Salt

Add the mustard, vinegar & salt in step 2 of the above technique.  Add the chives in step 6.

Lemon, Chive & White Truffle Aioli Recipe

Food Processor Aioli Recipes (Easily Adapted to the Whisking Method)
When adapting the below recipes to the hand-whisked technique, you’ll probably want to very finely chop, paste, or puree the solid flavoring ingredients called for in these recipes before mixing them in.

Fresh White Truffle Dijon Aioli
Blood Orange Aioli
Chile Aioli

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Herb oils are a beautiful, tasty, and incredibly easy condiment or garnish.  Here’s an explanation of the basic technique.

How to Make Herb Oils:

Ingredients:
1 cup olive oil
Fresh herbs (for example, a ½ bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley)
1 tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Portuguese Sea Salt to taste

Directions:

1.  Thoroughly wash the herbs.  Shake off residual water, but you don’t need to hand-dry them or run them through a salad spinner if you don’t want to. 

2.  If the variety of herbs you’re using have woody stems, remove the stems and discard them.

3.  Chop the herbs with the lemon juice in a food processor.

4.  Drizzle in the olive oil while the processor is running, then add salt to taste.

5.  Use to dress salads, garnish plates, or sauce food.

Similar Recipes:
Chile Infused Vinegar Recipe
Chile Oil Recipe

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One easy way to do it is to simply put a few of your favorite chilies into a bottle of oil and wait a couple weeks, but a quicker way to make chili oil is like this:

Chili Oil

Ingredients
2 cups olive oil (or vegetable oil if you prefer)
Several of your favorite dried peppers (whole or crushed)

We used dried de arbol peppers because of their balanced heat and classic shape.  If you wanted to turn up the heat and change the look of the finished bottles, you could use the smaller, more berry shaped dried pequin peppers or (for even more heat) dried tepin peppers.

Directions

1) Combine the oil and peppers in a heavy saucepan.

2) Cook over low heat about 5-8 minutes (oil should reach 150 degrees).

3) Remove from heat. Cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

4) Transfer the oil and peppers to a bottle. Seal the lid. Refrigerate for up to ten days.

For more info on how to make chili products, please read Rehydrating Dried Chilies, How to Make Chile Pastes, and Make Your Own Chile Powder.  To help decide which chilies to buy, read our dried chile heat scale.

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Culinary Techniques for Other Ingredients

While the Marx Foods blog already has a post describing how to make a basic vinaigrette, the technique is slightly different if using preserved lemons.  Preserved citrus fruit has been brined (pickled) for at least a month, intensifying its flavor as well as imparting complexity.  Using meyer lemons instead of conventional lemons will give your vinaigrette a sweeter citrus flavor.  The amount of oil and vinegar will vary with the size of your lemon and shallot as well as your flavor preferences.  Just try to follow the proportions for the two we’ve listed below.

Ingredients:

1 whole preserved meyer lemon (preserved meyer lemons recipe) or other preserved citrus fruit
1 large shallot
2 tsp Dijon mustard
~1/2 cup champagne vinegar
~1 1/2 cups oil (camelina oil or extra virgin olive oil)
Portuguese sea salt to taste

Directions:

1. Remove the stem from the lemon, slice it in half and remove any seeds. Peel the shallot and cut it in half.

2. Put the lemon and shallot halves in a food processor along with the Dijon, 1 pinch of the salt, and the vinegar.

3. Run the food processor, slowly drizzling in your oil until an emulsion is formed (see photo for visual reference).  Taste for acidity. Depending on the size (and type) of your lemon, you may need more oil or vinegar in order to balance the flavor.

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Culinary Techniques

More of a technique than a recipe, here’s the method we use for marinating red meat in oil. This recipe works particularly well for Kobe beef, grassfed beef, and beef-like game meats like bison, ostrich meat and kangaroo meat.  Pretty much any meat cut can be marinated, though skirt steaks & flank steaks absorb marinades particularly well.

Basic Oil Meat Marinade
1 part canola oil
1 part olive oil
Peppercorns
Bay Leaf
Garlic Cloves
Coriander
Thyme
Rosemary

Use just enough oil to cover the meat cuts you’re marinating, and vary the quantities of other ingredients based on how prominent your want their flavors to be in the finished dish.

Directions:
1. Crush the garlic cloves with the flat of your chef’s knife, but don’t bother peeling them.

2. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring just to a simmer.  Remove from the heat and let cool completely.

3. Pour the marinade over your meat in a zip-top bag, and place it in a bowl (to protect against drips) in your refrigerator to marinate for several hours or (preferably) overnight.

Variations:  Try adding cumin or paprika/pimenton to bring some heat to your marinade.

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Similar to a vinaigrette in terms of its flavor profile, tapenade is a condiment that people often buy jarred, but it’s very easy to make tapenade from scratch at home.  It’s a great way to add the punch of olives to sandwiches, entrees, or toasted bread.

Basic Tapenade Recipe
1 cup olives – pitted (we used Kalamata olives)
3 sprigs thyme, destemmed
2 tablespoons fine extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
½ clove garlic

Simply combine everything in a food processor and process until it reaches your desired consistency. If possible, let the tapenade sit in the fridge to marry flavors for a few hours before serving to improve its taste.

For Rustic Tapenade:
For a more rustic tapenade that contains large pieces of olive and sits nicely on the plate, simply pulse to chop until your desired chunk size has been reached.

If you reach your desired chop size, but the mixture needs more oil to reach the right consistency, move the tapenade to a bowl and fold in more oil by hand.  You are looking for a sheen from the oil and a slightly loose consistency. 

For Smooth Tapenade:
For a finer, spreadable tapenade, puree the mixture in a food processor while drizzling in additional oil until a fine paste is formed.

  
Tapenade Tips:

Try different olives:
We used Kalamata olives because of their tangy flavor, beautiful purple color, and relatively easy availability.  However, others can be used.  Using different olive varieties will change the color and flavor of the tapenade.  You could even try blends!  We recommend Cerignola, Arbequina, and Castelvetrano olives.

Try different vinegars:
We prefer champagne vinegar for its crisp, clean flavor that brightens up the olives.  However, if you wanted to give your homemade tapanade a richer, more fruity flavor, you could substitute (try smaller quantities first to make sure you’re not overwhelming the olives) aged balsamic vinegar or fruit vinegars.

Use the best extra virgin olive oil you can:
Finer oils tend to bring better and cleaner olive oil flavor to your tapenade, so this is the time to use the good stuff!

Other ingredients you can add:
Adding sundried tomatoes, boquerones, or increasing the amount of garlic will take your tapenade in new and interesting directions.

Any other ideas?

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Vinegar Recipes

Ingredients:
1 small Red Beet
¾ cup Fine Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350.

2. Wash the beet and cut off the ends. Rub it with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Wrap it in aluminum foil & roast it in the oven for about an hour, until tender.  Scrub the skin off.

3. Puree the beet with the extra virgin olive oil.  Strain through a fine mesh strainer.

4. Drizzle over your cooked food, toss with grain salads, or use to make homemade vinaigrettes.

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While the basics of making mayonnaise and aioli are already covered elsewhere on this blog, this recipe is so decadent, so fabulous that we just had to give it a special place of honor.  If you ever wondered how you could make our specialty burgers even more incredible, or you want to blow your foodie friends’ minds by serving them sandwiches spread with the world’s most gourmet mayonnaise (it was amazing with this braised beef sandwich recipe)…this is the recipe for you.

Ingredients:
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp champagne vinegar
2 egg yolks
1/8th oz white alba truffles (could also substitute white Oregon truffles)
1 cup of oil (we used ½ cup olive oil & ½ cup grape seed oil)
Portuguese sea salt to taste

Directions:

1. Put the mustard, vinegar, egg yolks, truffles and 1 large pinch of salt in the food processor. Blend until combined and the eggs have reached the ribbon stage (lighter in color, and when drizzling some on to itself layers pile up briefly on the surface of the egg).

2. Slowly begin to drizzle in the oil(s) while running the processor until a smooth mayonnaise consistency is reached.

3. Taste for seasoning, and add more vinegar if needed and salt to taste.

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Truffle Recipes
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