Agliata

A raw garlic sauce thickened with bread rather than egg, pounded rather than blended.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and green shoot removed
• 80 g stale white breadcrumbs
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 150 ml olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cold water, if needed

Method

1. Take the green shoot out of the middle of each clove. In a sauce this raw it is the difference between sharp and acrid.
2. Soak the breadcrumbs in the vinegar for 10 minutes, then squeeze them lightly. They are the thickener here — there is no egg and no emulsion to break.
3. Pound the garlic with the salt in a mortar until it is a smooth paste with no visible pieces. POUND IT, do not blend it: a blade whips air in and heats the garlic, and the sauce turns bitter within the hour.
4. Work the soaked crumbs into the garlic a little at a time.
5. Add the oil in a thin stream, stirring steadily with the pestle, until the sauce is thick and glossy.
6. Loosen it with the cold water if it is stiffer than double cream. Serve it with boiled meat, fish or vegetables, the same day it is made.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes