Herb Mayonnaise

My husband left this morning for a usual military thing.  It will be a while before we see him again, which meant that I found myself crying and needing to do something, anything, bake, cook, whatever, just to get my mind off it for now.

I then remembered that I had been wanting to try a herb mayonnaise and never got around to it.

Perfect!  Something to distract me.

You can google herb mayonnaise and find a bunch of different recipes, some call for vinegar, others call for lemon juice, some use 2 eggs, others use 4 etc.  Just find the one that works for you and try it.

The recipe I'm using is adapted from actually from Aunt Holly's Homemade Happiness......and I'll have you know that the first batch went into the trash because I totally messed up on the emulsifying part.  I'll let you know below what to do to ensure it doesn't happen to you.

Herb Mayonnaise

• 4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon minced or ground garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups oil.  Any kind or combination.  (I used 1 cup vegetable and 1 cup olive oil)
• Chopped fresh herbs

Directions

Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor and run until smooth.

With the processor running, slowly pour the oil in through the feed tube.  Now listen up and listen well.  When I say slowly, I mean SLOWWWWWWW....like a few drops at at time.  I mean so slow that within 2 minutes you'll be wanting to just give up and walk away.  But you can't, because you have to keep adding the oil slowly to ensure that it emulsifies (thickens).

See this????? This is what NOT to do. I added the oil too fast because I got distracted with a call from my husband on the road. This was the batch that got thrown out because it didn't emulsify, it was just watery.

When it starts turning a nice pale yellow and you can see that it starts to thicken, then you can start drizzling in the oil, again SLOWLY, into the blender.  Keep doing so until all the oil is used up.  I actually used my blender just until it started to thicken, then I transferred it to a mixing bowl and added the oil a little at a time, mixing by hand.

Add in your herbs.  I used a variety from my garden, so I threw in cilantro, parsley, chives, thyme and basil and rosemary.  

Just add more or less, or stick with one herb, it's your choice.  You can also use dried herbs but I love fresh :)

Store the mayonnaise in the refrigerator.  Let me tell you, it makes a mean potato salad :)