What you take away, you put back: oven fried chicken using homemade aioli

Ah, ragazzi, this is one that brought back memories to Annalena, even if it were the first time she made it.  Spiegero (I shall explain).

Many years ago, when they were young (yes, THAT many years ago), Annalena and the Guyman were privileged to stay at the Nantucket home of their friends, Bill and Bill.  Now, Bill and Bill are no longer with us, but let us say they were loaded, and a bucket of contradictions.  For example:  at their home in Nantucket (they also had one in Greenwich Village.  A town house.  On Bank Street), they once wanted to extend their garden by 3 feet.  To do this, they (i) bought the property next door (ii) had the property lines redrawn and (iii) resold the house at the price they paid for it.  Let us just say that a significant amount of cash was involved.  On the other hand,  one of the Bills once chastised Annalena for recommending a book to him that was still in hard back.  "I never pay THAT kind of money for a book." 

See what Annalena means, ragazzi?  Well, anyway, on that trip,  Bill (yes, it gets confusing.  Let's call him Bill C, to differentiate him from Bill S), was making baked fish for dinner.  Prior to breading it, he dipped it in mayonnaise.    Now, this was something that Annalena had never seen or heard of, and she was convinced that she would hate it. 

Nope.  It was GOOD.  It was VERY good.  The mayonnaise essentially melted into the crumbs and made a crispy, slightly tangy coating .  And it allowed the fish to bake for  what Annalena thought was an excessively long time (30 minutes).  Nonetheless, the fish was juicy and tasty.  And far worse on that trip was the headache she got, because the Bills did not drink caffeinated coffee.  After three days, she broke down and bought a jar of instant.

Later, she learned that the mayonnaise coating on fish, was fairly standard in New England, where  Bill C had grown up,  in the early-mid 1900s.  It isn't done  with regularity anymore, as far as Annalena can tell, but it's something that we really should not forget.

Hence, when Annalena saw a recipe for oven fried chicken, where the chicken was dipped in an aioli, she could not help but think "everything old is new again."  See, ultimately, ragazzi, aioli is simply mayonnaise with garlic in it.  Oh, excuse Annalena here.  It is HOMEMADE mayonnaise, with garlic in it, and there is the rub, bambini.  To make this dish work, you do have to make the mayonnaise yourself.

DON'T GO AWAY IT IS NOT THAT DIFFICULT.  We are going to walk through this, and you are going to make your own mayonnaise.  French women have been doing it for years, it is a basic of cooking school classes, and you are smart enough, and brave enough to do it. 

We didn't lose many of you, did we?  Ok, let's continue with this.  To make the mayonnaise, separate the yolk of one large egg, at room temperature.  Combine it with a teaspoon of dijon mustard, a quarter teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of a flavorless oil.  Whisk this all together.

Now, prepare yourself a cup of oil by mixing half a cup of a good quality extra virgin olive oil, with a neutral flavored vegetable oil.  If you wanted to be extremely European, you CAN use all olive oil, but your product will be very, VERY strong.  Don't use all neutral oil: you may as well buy it in the jar if you do. 

Now, here's where the only tricky part comes in, and the trick, ragazzi, is PAZIENZA.  The mixing above, should be in a heavy bowl, that is not going to move very much as you do the next step.  With one hand, work the whisk as fast as you can, and begin adding the oil... a quarter teaspoon at a time.  Wait until the oil vanishes before adding the next one.  You'll need to add about 3 full teaspoons of oil before  you move on.  You move on by continuing to whisk, and lifting the cup of oil so that it slowly, VERY slowly streams into your mix.  Keep an eye on it.  You should continue to see the oil disappear into what is becoming a heavier, and heavier cream.  If at any time this is not happening - the oil is lying on top of things - stop adding the oil, and get back to whisking.  If all else fails, you can add another teaspoon of mustard and one of water, and that should fix the trick.  Continue to add the oil, MORE SLOWLY if you have the problem.

At the end, you will have a VERY thick mayonnaise, and you can be very proud of yourself . You will never be without mayonnaise again if you have those ingredients around.  But now, let's go forward.  Mince three cloves of garlic very fine, and add them to the mayonnaise.  Now, squeeze a few limes: 2-3 , depending on how tart you like things, and stir that into the mayonnaise. This will loosen it substantially, and that's ok, because you're not using it in potato salad or anything like that.  You could also grate lime peel into this, but that's an option.

You have lime garlic aioli.  Taste it, and add as much salt as you feel it needs.  Now, get another bowl, and fill it with breadcrumbs.  Annalena used storebought for this, but you could use panko, or homemade, whatever you have.

Next, get three pounds of chicken legs.  If you have drumsticks and thighs, fine, or if you have full legs, also fine.  Whatever the cut with which you are working, dip each piece in the aioli, and let excess drip off. Then, coat the piece with bread crumbs, and put it on a baking sheet.  You will proably want to wash your fingers after each piece, or every other piece, as the crumbs will adhere and make it difficult to work.    You should have sufficient aioli to coat six legs worth of chicken.  How many crumbs you will need, is up to the thickness of your coating. 

Now, put that tray in the oven, and bake the chicken at 350, for 30-45 minutes.  The length of time depends on how big the pieces of chicken are.  Annalena was using parts that seem to have come from Birdzilla  (each leg weighed a pound), so she used the full 45.  If you are using separate drumsticks and thighs, from normal sized birds, you'll need less time.  (Keep in  mind that you can, of course, use all thighs or all drumsticks too).

Your kitchen is going to smell wonderful as this bakes.  And the chicken will taste terrific too. 

And so, we reduce the calories by baking instead of frying, but we give them back in the mayonnaise.  It is all about t radeoffs.  Ananlena also suggests that you grate some peel into some honey, warm it up, and brush it over the chicken as it comes out of the oven. 

Do try this.  You will feel SO proud of yourself when you make the mayonnaise, Annalena bets you will call people in to see, as you brag about your new found technique.  Your friends and family may mutter something about how you need a life, but they will eat every drop of the chicken.  So, too, when you make the potato salad at the next picnic and everyone is raving about how beautiful and tasty it is.   

Those of us who live for this kind of thing know better, dont we?

Next time around, Annalena is going to explain how to modify what may look like a time consuming,  long cooking fish recipe, and make it simpler.  Come back.  

Baci.