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