Aioli is a sauce that’s usually made with garlic, lemon juice, oil and egg yolks, much like a homemade mayonnaise. Some people even put dry mustard in it.

The usual way to make aioli is to crush the garlic, add the lemon juice, mix in the egg yolks and then while whisking, add the olive oil until you get a rich paste. Lots of work, so today I’m giving a cheat method for a delicious garlic basil aioli.

We were making simple burgers the other day and I wanted to dress them up and played around with this recipe. The results were delicious. You can also use this aioli on grilled chicken sandwiches for a bit of flavor and richness.

Garlic Basil Aioli

In a small mortar, add about 1/8 teaspoon salt. It’s not really for flavoring, but to assist with crushing the garlic.

Two cloves of garlic, chopped. Add to mortar and crush with the salt until you have almost a paste.

Add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil. Crush together with garlic to make a paste.

Mince two or three leaves of basil. You can also add a few sprigs of parsley leaves if you want.

Add minced basil leaves to the garlic/salt/oil mixture. Crush some more.

Add 3 tablespoons mayonnaise. You can use light mayo here to cut down on calories.

Mix some more and voila!

You’ve got a tasty spread for your burgers, chicken or any other kind of sandwich you’d like to make. Even use it over some broiled fish or with potatoes.

It’s summer and that means lots of peaches and nectarines ready to eat in all kinds of ways. Take a bite, cut them up into fruit salad, regular salad, sangria, pies, tarts and cakes.

I’ve never made a peach cake, but I was inspired by this week’s America’s Test Kitchen which had some tips on how to avoid a soggy peach cake. Apparently peaches have less pectin than other fruits which makes them release liquid that isn’t bound up with the pectin.

The solution: Roasting the peaches for 20 to 25 minutes and tossing them with crushed panko crumbs before you mix them in with the cake batter.

I wish I could say that I’d make the cake from scratch, but unfortunately, time does not allow that in my life, so I am substituting a pound cake mix for the batter and since I love nectarines more than peaches, I’ll be using those in my cake.

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds of peaches (or nectarines) cut into wedges.
4 teaspoons Lemon Juice
4 tablespoons amaretto (you can substitute peach schnapps or rum here also)
4 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup panko crumbs

For topping: 3 tablespoons sugar with 1 teaspoon of almond extract

For the Cake: Cake Mix of your choice, but choose a slightly denser cake mix, like pound cake or a mix for an upside down cake. 1 teaspoon of almost extract.

Directions

Place cut peaches into the lemon juice, rum and sugar. Let it macerate for at least 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove about 2 dozen of the peach wedges and set aside. Cut the remaining peach wedges into thirds and place on a greased foil-covered baking sheet Bake at 425 for about 20 to 25 minutes. Set aside to cool and reduce oven temperature to that recommended for your cake mix.

Grease a 9 inch springform pan. If you wanted to really boost the almond taste, you could finely grind almonds and use them to “flour” the inside of the springform pan.

Make your cake mix, adding 1 teaspoon of almond extract.

Once peach wedges are cooled, toss with crushed panko and gently fold into cake mix.

Pour cake mix into springform pan and place the reserved peach wedges on top as a nice design. Sprinkle the almond-sugar mixture over the top. Bake until center of the cake is set and a toothpick comes out clean. Probably around 40 to 50 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.