London-based chef Max Rocha shares his recipe for winter crudités, boiled egg and aioli
Max Rocha is a chef who has worked at some of London’s finest restaurants, from St John Bread and Wine to The River Café. In 2021, he opened Café Cecilia in Hackney. Over the coming weeks, he will share a series of seasonal recipes to enjoy at home.
This is a salad we have been serving at Café Cecilia over the last few weeks. I’ve fond memories of holidays in the south of France and eating at a restaurants in Nice where they just place a huge basket overflowing with raw vegetables on the table, with boiled eggs still in their shells which we peeled and bowls of aoili, before you would even order a drink. It was a wonderful way to begin a meal, so we thought it would be a nice addition to the menu from time to time.
Winter Crudités, Boiled Egg and Aioli
Ingredients:
One fennell and its fronds
One purple heritage carrot
Three eggs
One celery heart
Two cauliflower pisces
One red endive
Two radishes
Two garlic cloves
One large free range egg
One tbsp Dijon mustard
150ml olive oil
150ml sunflower oil
20ml of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method:
- Place the egg yolks, mustard and a teaspoon of water into a food processor.
- Blitz the ingredients and add the oils, first slowly and then once it begins to come together you can pour in the rest of the oil quicker (I always keep a little cup of water beside me in case it looks like it may split this can bring it back together).
- Season the mayonnaise with salt and pepper to your taste and set aside.
- Place an egg into boiling water for seven minutes and then place the egg in a bowl of very cold water to stop the cooking process.
- Peel when cooled and set aside.
- Wash and dry all your vegetables.
- Pick the fennel fronds and set aside, cut off the wooden bottom of the fennel and cut into eighths.
- Cut off two florets from a cauliflower head.
- Slice the carrot into a similar size as the fennel.
- Slice the heart of the celery in two, this is the sweetest part of the celery.
- Place all your vegetables into a tower that looks like they just fell from a tree. The radish tops are totally edible so they can be included.
- Place the egg cut in half beside the vegetables and add a blob of aioli beside the egg.
- Crack some black pepper on the egg and sprinkle a little sea salt over the whole dish and then finish with a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil over the vegetables and serve.
