Bagna Cauda ( hot sauce) is a great peasant dish from Piemonte in northern Italy. It’s a very convivial dish as diners dip raw or cooked vegetables in the hot sauce placed in a pot in the middle of the table. Traditionally the sauce is made with garlic, anchovies and olive oil. One whole garlic is calculated per person and is cooked in a little milk until tender. The milk is then discarded, the garlic peeled, mashed and added to the anchovies and oil and gently cooked over a low flame for 20 minutes. You then dip the various vegetables into the sauce. In peasant households it was a whole meal but nowadays it is usually eaten as a starter. (You might have to avoid contact with other people for a few days after so much garlic )
My Mamma used to make a wonderful Bagna Cauda but made it with cream instead of oil. I prefer her more refined version, as the creamy sauce, with all it’s delicious garlicky-anchovy flavours, becomes rich and thick and really sticks to the vegetables.
• you can use any vegetables you enjoy and are available
• here are some suggestions:
• radicchio, asparagus, broccolini, cauliflower, mushrooms
• red and yellow peperoni, radishes, kipfer potatoes and cherry tomatoes
• steam or boil the cauliflower, potatoes, asparagus and broccolini
• for the sauce:
• 500 ml of pure cream
• 6-8 large garlic cloves, peeled
• add the garlic to the cream and very gently simmer for about 1 hour
• the cream will reduce and thicken
• in a little oil, gently fry about 20 anchovies until they disintegrate ( 10 min)
• add the anchovies to the cream and garlic mixture
• squash the garlic until smooth
• taste for salt and pepper
• arrange the vegetable on a serving plate
• if you have a fondue dish, put the sauce into it and keep it hot over a flame
• every person selects their vegetables and dips them into the hot sauce
• you can also use individual little pots and place them on each persons plate
• this way might be preferable in these Corona times