Taramosalata - Greek Fish Roe Dip
An easy monastic recipe for traditional, fluffy taramosalata with potatoes. A fasting appetizer that seculars usually accompany with their lagana at the Shrove Monday table, but they also generally consume it as an appetizer throughout Lent. On Mount Athos, this meze is consumed only on the days when we have a catalysis on wine and oil, such as for example the weekends during Lent. Try this monastic recipe for taramosalata and accompany it with some toasted sourdough bread and olives.
We wash the potatoes well and boil them whole with the skins on.
We boil them for as long as necessary, until they are soft and easily pierced with a fork.
We peel them while they are still hot and set them aside.
We clean the onions, pass them through the grater and leave them aside.
We take a large wooden mortar and beat the tarama first.
Then, we add the grated onions and continue beating.
Then, we add the potatoes little by little and beat constantly until we have a uniform mass.
Then, we start pouring the olive oil very slowly and little by little stirring constantly.
At the end, we add the lemon and half a cup of warm water without stopping the mixing.
When our taramosalata purees and becomes fluffy, it is ready.
We taste and if necessary correct the taste by adding a little lemon.
We leave the taramosalata in the fridge for 1-2 hours to set well and then serve.
If we have leftover good quality stale bread we can use it in this recipe. We remove the crust of the bread, soak it, squeeze it well an replace the potatoes with it.
We add the water at the end of the whipping, because if we put it at the beginning, our taramosalata will cut.
It is preferable to use quality white tarama, rather than the red which contains pigments.
