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Mushroom, walnut, and ailou sauce

20/12/2012

18 Comments

 
One of the joys of living where I do is regular access to ailou, a whipped fresh cream cheese drowning in garlic and herbs. It's perfect on bread, served as a dip, and added to all sorts of egg dishes and cream sauces. Boursin and garlic and herb cream cheese can be used as replacements, but it won't be quite the same. 

This sauce is another one dreamt up by my daughter to use up our seemingly endless  bounty of walnuts. She serves it with pasta, on polenta, or with grilled chicken or pork.

100g garlic and herb cream cheese (preferably ailou)
2 large handfuls toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
150g tub creme fraiche
150g mushrooms, sliced (preferably an earthy variety like cep or portobello)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp olive oil
70g flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped


1. Heat up the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium heat. When it begins to shimmer, add the mushrooms, stirring to coat with the oil.
2. Cook gently, stirring often, until the mushrooms have halved in mass. Add the garlic and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the cream cheese, stirring to help it melt. Add the creme fraiche in small quantities, stirring all the time, until the sauce has reached your desired consistency.
4. Take the sauce off the heat, stir in the walnuts and parsley, and serve.
18 Comments
Trinity Too
1/3/2014 02:30:43 am

I'm reading the Resistance Man (kindle on an iPad - wish it were hard copy!) and was so intrigued (as usual!) by the gorgeous food description at Location 1378 (drafted Kindle - I can't find a page number!) that I wanted to check out what 'aillou' was. I found a wonderful recipe for ailou on this page (thank you - can't wait to try). However, I think the word is mispelled (three times - consistent!) on the book page. Sorry to inform you. Sorry about the over abundance of parentheses too. Loving your Bruno book, as always. Regards.

Reply
Martin link
13/3/2014 04:19:18 pm

One of my neighbours in the Dordogne is a cheesemaker, and on his stall he sells aillou (spelled with two ls!), which is a rustic cream cheese laden with garlic and spices. More curd than Philadelphia, it finds its way into almost every kitchen in the Perigord.

Reply
Trinity Too
13/3/2014 11:54:38 pm

Thanks for your reply. I stand corrected; I can rest easy thinking there isn't a glaring misspelling that you would always think of, when remembering your book. Aillou sounds sooo good I can't wait to try it myself. There's a guided photographic week to your French part of the world, full this year. Maybe next! Looking forward to your next wonderful Bruno book.

Reply
Jean rasbridge
18/1/2018 09:10:29 am

Please, please - a recipe book? I promise to for myself and my family. Love the books.

Reply
Martin link
22/1/2018 05:04:18 am

We've been working on an English language cookbook for years, but can't get an interested publisher. If you happen to read German, there is a Bruno cookbook available through my publisher, Diogenes.

Reply
sue ramage link
12/6/2018 03:33:23 pm

I too am interested in how to make aillou. I can't seem to find a specific recipe although it seems that some of the above persons have been successful. Any suggestions??? And thank you for the wonderful books. It is a joy to read each and every one...Sue

Reply
Martin link
13/6/2018 07:06:15 am

A proper aillou involves having access to the freshest soft cheese or curds, but you can make a rough approximation by thinning out either Boursin or a garlic and herb cream cheese by mixing it with greek yoghurt.

Reply
Terence O'Neill-Joyce
14/6/2018 02:06:59 am

Love your books a great refresher of times spent in France. About to go to Les Quesnoy, liberated by a smart bunch of kiwis in 1918. Thanks also for the Little Prince extract...have always felt that we spend too much time looking instead of listening. Thanks

Reply
Theresa Carroll link
19/6/2018 03:39:16 pm

If you haven't yet, please write a cookbook of Bruno's recipes. Actually it would be wonderful to have the passages written of his his marketing/bartering and preparing the meal and then to experience his l'art du la table.

Reply
Martin link
21/6/2018 06:02:08 am

We have written a cookbook, and are working on a second, but they're only available in German -- it's a long and complicated saga to do with image rights and the competitive UK cookbook market, and in short no publisher is willing to take the risk...

Reply
Barbara Kraft
21/6/2018 05:44:27 am

Walter & friends...
I know I will feel a void when I finish the newest Bruno book which is Taste for Vengeance. Thank you for taking me back to a wonderful area of France. I can duplicate it in my kitchen now thanks to this site that I was discovered when searching how to make aillou.... Bon Jour

Reply
Martin link
21/6/2018 06:08:35 am

I'm so pleased you're enjoying the series!

Reply
lynn koerner link
23/2/2019 07:47:34 am

LOVE the Bruno books and all the cooking teases. HELP with the aillou - websites and recipes are referenced in above notes but not included. can you pls send recipe / website to my email address - promise to share with the Bruno fan club in Boston!

Reply
Martin link
28/11/2019 08:18:32 am

Aillou is hard to make without access to your own field of cows and a cheesemaker. But your preferred brand of garlic and herb cream cheese (or similar you flavour yourself) makes for an adequate substitute -- the texture is more creamy than aillou, but the flavour is close enough.

Reply
Patricia Andersen
4/9/2019 02:12:00 am

Your books are totally amazing I have a husband who has all of them and cant put them down we have a house in SWFrance in the Dordogne and just luv everything French we. Live in Sydney Australia

Reply
Martin link
28/11/2019 08:15:00 am

Thank you for the kind words! If I ever do a book tour in Australia I shall be sure to let you know.

Reply
Kampus entrepreneurship link
14/9/2022 11:47:19 pm

How does it look when it's ripe?

Reply
Arcico Weldy S. link
19/10/2022 06:50:44 pm

Thanks for the information, please visit
<a href=https://ittelkom-sby.ac.id/>VisitUs</a>

Reply



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