Mojo de Azafrán de La Gomera

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small dry frying pan, 15 to 20cm
• •Heavy granite or basalt mortar and pestle, at least 14cm
• •Small jar with a tight lid for storage

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the saffron

   Warm a small dry frying pan over the lowest heat for 1 minute, then remove it from the heat. Scatter in the saffron and shake the pan constantly for 20 to 30 seconds. The threads should smell honeyed and deepen by one shade, never turn brown. Tip them immediately into the mortar.

   Saffron burns in a breath. If the threads blacken or smell bitter, discard them and begin again; burnt saffron will spoil the whole bowl.
2. 2

   Pound the base

   Add the cumin seeds and coarse salt to the saffron. Pound everything to a fine golden powder, then add the garlic and work it patiently into a completely smooth paste. The salt provides the grit that breaks down both spice and garlic, so do not replace it with fine salt at this stage.

3. 3

   Draw out the colour

   Stir the vinegar and water into the garlic paste, scraping every bit from the sides of the mortar. Leave it for 5 minutes. The liquid should turn a clear, deep yellow and carry no visible clumps of garlic.

4. 4

   Work in the oil

   Add the olive oil in four additions, stirring firmly with the pestle until each addition is mixed before adding the next. The finished mojo should be loose enough to fall from a spoon in a ribbon, with a glossy surface and a light, natural emulsion. It is a mojo, not a thick mayonnaise.

   A little separation is proper. Stir before serving rather than trying to force the sauce into a heavy, permanent emulsion.
5. 5

   Rest before serving

   Cover the mojo and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Stir once, then serve with papas arrugadas, boiled potatoes, grilled fish or roast meat. The rest softens the raw edge of the garlic and lets the saffron travel through the oil. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.

Chef Tips

• •Buy whole Crocus sativus threads with a deep red colour and a clean honey-and-hay scent. Powdered saffron is too easily mixed with colouring, and you cannot judge how much true saffron is in it.
• •Use a mild extra virgin olive oil. A very bitter, aggressively grassy oil buries the saffron, which is an expensive way to taste nothing but oil.
• •No mortar where you are? Crush the saffron, cumin and salt in a spice grinder, then pulse them with the garlic, vinegar and water. Drizzle in the oil at the lowest speed. The result will be smoother and paler than a hand-pounded mojo, but the flavour remains sound.
• •Serve it with papas arrugadas, boiled new potatoes, grilled white fish or roast goat. A dry white made from La Gomera's Forastera Gomera grape suits it; otherwise choose a dry, saline white wine.
• •For an outdoor meal, carry the mojo in a chilled sealed jar and keep it cold until serving. Raw garlic held in oil should not sit for hours in the sun.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the mojo 2 to 24 hours ahead and refrigerate it in a sealed jar. The saffron colour deepens and the raw garlic settles as it rests.
• •Bring it out of the refrigerator 20 minutes before serving and stir well, as the olive oil may thicken or separate in the cold.
• •Keep refrigerated and use within 3 days. Do not store a raw garlic-and-oil sauce at room temperature.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 15g)