Bagna Caoda

Preparation:
Finely chop the cloves of garlic, having removed the inside shoot, and if you wish, leave for a few hours in a bowl of fresh, running water. Take the anchovies - the best are the Spanish red variety - straight out of their salting tin, clean and wash in water and vinegar, carefully dry and remove the bones. Dry the sliced garlic and place in a large pan (preferably terracotta) with a small spoon of oil and the butter over a low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon for at least half an hour. At this point the slices of garlic will have melted and formed a soft white cream. Add the rest of the oil and the anchovies and cook until all the ingredients have melted and amalgamated well. Try adding a few peeled walnuts. All the vegetables that are found in the gardens of Piemonte can be dipped in bagna caoda: cardoons gobbo from Nizza Monferrato, Jerusalem artichokes, raw, baked or preserved sweet peppers, green cabbage, the white hearts of escarole and endives, fresh leeks, spring onions, baked red beetroot, boiled cauliflower, baked onions, steamed potatoes and slices of hot roasted “polenta”.

Origins and curiosities
Garlic is the most important ingredient of the bagna caoda, which may be reduced in quantity but by no means eliminated. The “purists” insist on one head per person, but 4-5 cloves per person can be sufficient. Walnuts are added to recall the time when, in the Piemonte countryside, they used walnut oil instead of olive oil. As for the bread, we recommend thick slices of fragrant home-made bread, baked in a wood-burning oven, which should help mop up the drips from dipping the vegetables into the communal dianet (earthenware table burner) in the centre of the table. The ideal wine to accompany the dish is a newly racked and still cloudy and fragrant Barbera, though a Freisa di Chieri is fine, as is a good Barbera or Dolcetto di Dogliani.