Rouille - it's not just for fish soup

picture stolen from Food Vagabond

Last night the missus made the most delicious bouillabaisse, which was much simpler to make than it's fancy name belies. She made the stew with bird, not fish, and it soared! Part of what completed the dish was a condiment of spicy french mayonnaise, Rouille, which we dolloped into the soup just as you would sour cream. For the many of us who participate in this blog and who are addicted to garlic and spice, this stuff brings it all together. Today we heated up a beef stew and I threw a dollop of leftover Rouille into my bowl. My first taste of stew and Rouille resulted in a string of french superlatives that I cannot repeat lest I am banned from this manliest, most freedom fry of blogs. I promise you Cagey, spread some Rouille on toast and you'll be exclaiming: "sacre bleu, I just might join the french foreign legion!" Ok, maybe not. But, do me a favor and give this a try with your venison or duck stews.

Rouille recipe from Kelly's favorite cookbook author (makes one cup)
4 large cloves garlic
1.5 tsp salt
1 super large egg yolk, room temp
1.5 TBSP lemon juice
0.5 tsp saffron threads
0.25 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup good olive oil

Place garlic and salt on cutting board and mince together
Throw salty garlic into food processor with steel blade
Add egg yolk, lemon juice, saffron and pepper flakes
Chop till smooth
With machine running, drizzle (very, very, very slowly) olive oil.
You should have a yellow mayonnaise with red flakes that you can store in the fridge.