Aioli is essentially a garlic mayonnaise made with olive oil.  I needed some for dressing for a grilled corn salad, and turned to Serious Eats for a recipe.  The two key steps are to use an immersion blender (or food processor) to make an initial emulsion with a neutral oil, and then to whisk in slowly a flavorful olive oil.  This two step method avoids bitterness which would be created by using the immersion blender on the flavorful olive oil.  (Originally, aioli was made without egg, using only finely crushed garlic as an emulsifier, but using egg as an emulsifier is much easier.)

1 whole egg

4 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

½ cup neutral vegetable oil (I used some “Pure” olive oil which I bought by mistake and which is pretty tasteless)

½ cup flavorful extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Put the whole egg, garlic, and lemon juice in the cup of an immersion blender.  Add the neutral vegetable oil and allow to rest for 15 seconds.  Insert the immersion blender starting at the bottom of the cup and move it around until the entire cup is filled with a thick white emulsion.

Pour the emulsion into a medium bowl.  Slowly add the flavorful extra virgin olive oil in a thin stream while whisking it into the emulsion.  Add kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.  (I added about 1 tsp. kosher salt and about ¼ tsp. black pepper.)