Agliata (Saffron and Walnut Aioli)

While doing research for a Renaissance menu for our Wednesday series of Italian menus, I came upon this sauce in La Cucina Padovana by Giuseppe Maffioli. It was part of a fifteenth-century menu described by the writer called Il Ruzzante. We love to serve this aioli as a sauce for the seafood fritto misto, but it is also wonderful with cooked artichokes, asparagus, cauliflower, hard-cooked eggs, and poached fish, shrimp, and chicken.