40 mins
Super easy
serves 4
About the recipe
This is a really interesting winter salad dish. Its proper name is 'bagna cauda', which basically means ‘hot bath’ in Italian, and the idea is that you have a load of raw or just-cooked pieces of vegetable that you dip into a delicious, warm sauce.
Ingredients
for the sauce
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
300ml milk
10 anchovy fillets in oil
180ml good extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
2 or 3 tablespoons good white wine vinegar
for the vegetables
a few young carrots, peeled and finely sliced
a few small raw beetroots, peeled and finely sliced
a few sticks of celery, trimmed and thinly sliced, yellow leaves reserved
½ a small Romanesco or white cauliflower, broken into florets
a bulb of fennel, trimmed and finely sliced, herby tops reserved
a handful of small beetroot leaves, if available, washed
a bunch of radishes, trimmed and washed
½ a celeriac, peeled and finely sliced
Top Tip
You can use any vegetables you want, and depending on the season you can do a lighter summer version or a more root-veg-based winter one. I actually prefer my veg to be raw, as I love the crunch you get from them, but if you want to boil them briefly until they’re al dente, feel free.
Method
- First, prepare all your veg, because once the sauce is done you’ll be ready to serve! Peel and finely slice the carrots, beetroot, celeriac and fennel, reserving the herby fennel tops.
- Trim and thinly slice the celery, reserving the yellow leaves. Break the cauliflower into florets.
- Trim the radishes and wash with the beetroot leaves.
- To make your sauce, peel the garlic cloves and put into a saucepan with the milk and anchovies, then bring to the boil. Simmer slowly for 10 minutes, or until the garlic is soft and tender, keeping a close eye on the pan to make sure the milk doesn’t boil over. Don’t worry if it spits and looks a little lumpy – simply remove from the heat and whiz the sauce up with a hand blender.
- Gently blend in the extra virgin olive oil and the vinegar a little at a time – you’re in control of the consistency at this point. If you like it thick, like mayonnaise, keep blending. Now taste it and adjust the seasoning. Make sure there’s enough acidity from the vinegar to act like a dressing. It should be an incredible, pungent warm sauce.
- There are two ways you can serve the warm sauce. Either pour the sauce into a bowl and place this on a plate, with the veg arranged around the bowl, or serve the veg in a big bowl and drizzle the sauce over the top.
- Sprinkle over the reserved herby fennel tops and celery leaves, then finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
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