Aïoli and Wild Herbs Sandwich

When I went to Ibiza for the first time I got absolutely hooked on aïoli, I ate it every single day! It's more than twenty years ago and I had just turned thirteen. I was so happy to spend some time with my best friend at her parent's holiday home, it felt exciting to be on this island which is so famous for its parties (which I couldn't join as I was still too young)! I especially enjoyed the nights out at all the amazing restaurants we visited together, I have always loved Spanish food, tapas and barbecues, but in those days I was particularly fond of Ibiza's traditional appetizer, fresh bread and aïoli. In Spain, people usually go to restaurants quite late, at 9 or 10 in the evening, by that time I was already starving. As soon as we sat down and a basket full of warm bread and a bowl of creamy aïoli was brought to the table, nothing could stop me from emptying both!

It took me a while to make my own aïoli, a few years ago we had friends over from Barcelona and they introduced me to the traditional dip's secrets. It's surprisingly quick and easy to prepare:

For 4 sandwiches you drop 2 egg yolks into a mug which should be just big enough for a stick mixer to fit in it. You mix 3 crushed cloves of garlic with 4 teaspoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice in one bowl, and measure 100ml / 3.5 ounces of good quality olive oil in another. Pour 1/4 of the oil onto the egg yolks and start mixing with the stick mixer, add more oil and the lemon garlic mixture, a little at a time, mixing constantly. When the dip is thick and creamy season with salt. Spread on 4 thick slices of white bread and sprinkle with mixed wild herbs. I found a fantastic mixture of wild herbs which I don't use often, saltbush (orache), burnet, rucola, pigweed, edible chrysanthemum, yarrow, cheeseweed and chickweed. Every bite brought in new flavours, all strong and delicious together with the aïoli!