Don't Sweat the Aubergine

in the vinaigrette.
PESTO
    Once you’ve made your own, you probably won’t want to go back to the bottled stuff. Bottled pesto has a stale taste, and isn’t reminiscent of basil, or pine nuts, or Parmesan, or olive oil, at all. However, I do sometimes use it, in a very modest quantity (no more than a teaspoon for four people), in potato salads made with mayonnaise, or in cold chicken salads with mayonnaise and yoghurt.
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HOW TO MAKE IT
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    30g pine nuts
    1 garlic clove
    Salt
    Large handful of fresh basil leaves
    3 tbsp grated Parmesan
    120ml olive oil
    Put the pine nuts in a dry saucepan above a gentle heat until they give a lightly toasted smell. Careful: they burn easily. Grind them: I do it in an electric herb mill, because bashing them up with a pestle is hard work.
    Chop the garlic, then put it into a mortar with a little salt, and grind to a paste with the pestle. (Or use a heavy bowl and a wooden spoon.) Wash the basil leaves and pat them dry with paper towels. Add them to the mortar, with the pine nuts, and grind them against the bottom and sides, until you have a green slush. Add the grated cheese and blend it in. Add the olive oil, stirring it in a little at a time, until you have a thick sauce. You may not need all 120ml.
    Or: throw pine nuts, basil and garlic into a food processor. Blend. Throw in the cheese. Blend briefly. Scrape this mixture into a bowl. Blend in the oil as above. (Olive oil whizzed in an electric processor seems to lose its fruitiness – a factor to consider, too, when making mayonnaise [ see here ] and hummus [ see here ].)
    Check for saltiness. Add pepper if you like.
    You can use pesto to dress pasta. Or dollop it into a vegetable soup. I like to stir it into boiled new potatoes. Or try this. Cut an aubergine in two horizontally, and then into vertical slices. Brush with olive oil, season with salt and bake at gas mark 6/200°C for 25 to 30 minutes, or until soft. Spread pesto on the slices, and put mozzarella cheese on top of that. Put back into the oven for 5 minutes. Eat hot, lukewarm or cold.
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VARIATIONS
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    You can also make pesto with parsley or mint.
MAYONNAISE
    ‘This classic sauce,’ Raymond Blanc claims (in
Cooking for Friends
), ‘is very simple to make.’ That is an example of the Annoying Things Chefs Write. Vinaigrette is simple: it cannot go wrong. Mayonnaise, as every cook of experience knows, can go wrong: unless you’re careful, it will split.
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HOW TO MAKE IT
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    As an accompaniment to a meal for 3 to 4 people
    1 egg, at room temperature 1
    1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
    Pinch of salt
    150ml oil 2
    1 tsp white wine vinegar
    Separate the egg, and put the yolk into a bowl; discard the white, or save it for a mousse or a soufflé. I use a mortar, which is the heaviest and most stable bowl I own. I have in the past turned – I think that is the correct verb – the mayonnaise with a pestle, but now usually employ a small whisk. The receptacle should be stable enough to take your turning or whisking, because you cannot hold it with your free hand – you’ll need that for the jug of oil. A cushion of a dry dishcloth or a paper towel on a chopping board should hold it.
    Mix the yolk, mustard and salt. 3 Put the oil into a measuring jug. Pour a drop – no more – on to the egg, 4 and start turning or whisking. When you have incorporated the oil, add another drop, whisking all the while; without letting up your whisking for a moment, continue to add drops of oil, each time waiting for egg and oil to blend before adding the next.
    By the time you’ve added half the oil, the mixture may be very thick; thin it with the vinegar, before adding more oil as before. You should be able now to add a little more oil each time, or to pour it in a slow but steady stream – but you cannot stop whisking.
    Judge for yourself when the mayonnaise has the consistency and flavour you want. You may not need all the oil. If you’re not eating the mayonnaise immediately, cover the bowl with cling film and put it in the fridge, where it will keep for three days. But it’s best on the day.
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VARIATIONS
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    Thin the mayonnaise with lemon juice rather than vinegar.
    Leave out the mustard if you like.
    Aioli is a garlic mayonnaise that traditionally accompanies salt cod, or perhaps poached chicken. It contains a preposterous quantity of garlic – six or more cloves with the ingredients given above. Chop the garlic finely, put it in a mortar with some salt, and grind it