Potatoes cooked in grey clay with a light cream of confit garlic and free-range egg yolks

For 8 people

For the potatoes cooked in grey clay
16 small Ratte potatoes
3 l of water
24 g of salt

For the sauce
60 g di kaolin (edible white clay)
40 g of lactose
0.4 g of black vegetable paste colorant
80 ml of water
0.5 g of fine salt

For the confit garlic
500 ml of olive oil
2 bulbs of garlic

For the aioli
40 g of confit garlic
60 g of extra virgin olive oil
1 egg yolk
6 g of water
salt

For the potatoes cooked in the grey clay
Scrub the potatoes well using a quite soft brush, leaving the skin on. Cook for 8-10 minutes in salted water, depending on the size.

For the sauce
Place the lactose, salt and black colorant in a bowl. Add the water a little at a time, stirring constantly. Initially the mixture will seem very dry. Leaving it to rest for an hour, it will become more fluid and will acquire a sauce consistency. Spear the cooked potatoes on the flattest side and dip them into the sauce.
Remove them and slot the other end of the skewer into the holes in a perforated surface, placed upside down. Place these potatoes inside a plate warmer or a dryer at a temperature of about 55° C. Within about 30 minutes, the outside of the mass will be dry and the potatoes will be crisp on the outside and juicy inside. Keep in the dryer.

For the confit garlic
Heat the oil on the grill until it reaches a high temperature. This operation can be carried out at the edge of the grill, so that it takes place very gently. Introduce the separate garlic cloves without removing the skin, cooking on a very low heat for about 2 hours, so that the garlic is soft when cooked, easy to skin and completely soaked in oil. Drain, skin, chop and filter through a fine Chinoise sieve, and set to one side.

For the aioli
Use an electric whisk and proceed as you would with a plain mayonnaise. Mix the egg yolks with the drained, skinned and chopped confit garlic, until the mixture thickens. Drizzle in the oil very slowly, continuing to whisk and checking that the emulsion doesn't separate. Add salt to taste, cover and set to one side.

Heat some stones of the same size as the potatoes cooked in the grey clay in the oven. These stones will be used to complete the game and keep the potatoes hot for longer. Lay a fine serviette inside a bowl so that it hangs down on one side, covering the bottom of the plate. Place 4-5 hot stones inside it. Place the hot potatoes on them. To finish, cover the potatoes with the overhanging part of the serviette. This must stay inside the bowl so that the contents cannot be seen when it is placed on the table. In another smaller and individual container, serve an abundant quantity of aioli and invite the diner to dip the potatoes in the sauce.