Mayonesa -- Mayonnaise

[Art]

On our first visit to Madrid, we had the usual (unnecessary) fears about the food and water. We were students and cheapos, so the first restaurant we chose was in a low rent district. Because we weren't feeling terribly secure about the food, we decided to order things that struck as as very safe choices, like ensalada rusa (potato salad). When it arrived at the table, however, we stared with wide eyes: it was GREEN and smelled very strange! We assumed it was bad and wrote home about the terrible potato salad, asking how anyone could ruin such a simple dish.

A while later we realized that the dressing on it had been mayonaise made with olive oil. Soon green ensalada rusa was one of our favorite dishes. A friend, Milagros, taught me how to make this mayonesa.

1 whole egg (room temperature)
juice of 1/2 lemon (can substitute bottled, if necessary)
1/8 tsp ground mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
salt to taste

We used a stick blender to make this, although it might be possible to use a regular blender or an egg beater.

Put the egg, lemon juice, ground mustard, salt, and a bit of the olive oil in the blender cup. Pop the yoke and blend it all together by hand before running the blender.

Run the blender for about 20 seconds. Stop, add the rest of the oil, and stir the mixture by hand again. Then blend with the machine again for about 35 seconds or until the the mayonnaise is firm.

Adjust the salt, lemon, and ground mustard, if necessary.

Refrigerate. This won't keep nearly as long as commercial mayonnaise, but it tastes a whole lot better.

[Maestro Tomberi]

With the mustard is what we could consider a half way between the regular mahonesa and tartare sauce, since the original recipee doesn't have it