Provencal Sauce (cold) recipe
This is an easy, classical sauce from the south of France that you can whip up in a blender or food processor. It's so little work and time that you can easily squeeze this in on a weeknight. Serve it with cold meats, grilled meats, or fish. Use it sparingly, as a drizzle or dip: it's powerful in taste (and calories.) You may wish to cut the recipe in half.
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a food processor or blender, purée together the garlic, the anchovies and the water. Blend in the egg yolks. Then, drizzle in the olive oil, blending all the while. At the end, season to taste by mixing in a squeeze or two of lemon juice and a pinch of salt.
- The sauce will end up yellowish, just a bit translucent, and while thickish, still be a runny, pourable sauce.
Notes
Olive oil is the dominant ingredient -- and taste -- in this sauce, so you'll want to use one that is table and condiment (as opposed to general cooking) quality -- and fresh, not stale dated. If you use a heavy cooking quality olive oil, or an old one, the taste and texture may be unpleasantly heavy for many people.
Use up within a day or two owing to the raw egg in it.
To cut this recipe in half, use 3 oz (90 ml) of olive oil.
If you're using anchovies that were preserved in salt, rinse them first before using.
Classically, the garlic and anchovy would have been puréed in a mortar, then the mixture transferred to a larger bowl with the recipe proceeding with the aid of a whisk.
If the anchovy, garlic and water doesn't form a purée for you in the first step, don't worry, as any small morsels of garlic still intact will get blended in when the oil is added.
Note on raw egg: If you are feeding someone who is in an at-risk group or are in such a group yourself, or have any reason to doubt the safety of the eggs you are using or to doubt that they arrived in your hands with the safe chain of handling intact, then you may wish to take safety precautions. You could purchase pasteurized eggs. Or, you can use 2 tablespoons of egg from a carton, which will be pasteurized. Or, follow one of the techniques in our entry on egg yolk to render the raw egg yolk safe.
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