Dip into delicious Taramosalata

While the Greek Orthodox tradition of Lent is meant as a period of spiritual and physical cleansing, for me it’s a time for embracing local culinary traditions and passionate cooking of delectable, nutritious meals that combine wonderful textures and flavours in a wealth of shellfish, vegetable and grain dishes.

During Lent most Greek households, including mine, serve lots of taramosalata – a creamy, richly-flavoured fish roe spread – with fresh, village-style bread and octopus cooked in some manner, all of which will leave you so satisfied that any thoughts of meat and dairy will vanish into thin air.

My Lenten favourite is definitely taramosalata, which is very easy to make as long as you have a strong blender or food processor. It’s made with tarama (the salty, cured roe of cod or carp), bread, olive oil and lemon juice. Personally, I also add a potato to the traditional recipe as it cuts down on the bread and saltiness of the fish roe but I never ever add onion to the dip, as many people do, as in my opinion, it kills the dip’s true taste!

Traditional Taramosalata – Creamy Fish Roe Dip

Ingredients

140 g tarama (fish roe)

1 large Idaho or starchy potato (200–250g), cooked and peeled

6 or more slices white toast bread, crust removed (more if needed)

¼-½ cup fresh lemon juice

1–1¼ cup extra virgin Greek olive oil, or to taste

¼ cup water – tepid

Method

Place the tarama, potatoes and bread into a large blender together with ¼ cup lemon juice, half the water and ¾ cup olive oil and blend on high speed until you have a smooth paste like dip. Slowly add more olive oil and water and blend to obtain the texture you like, also adding more lemon juice, to taste.

For a really thick dip, you may need to add a bit more bread. This will all depend on the texture you want and, of course, the type of bread you are using. In any case, once you have the smooth textured dip you like, store in an airtight glass or plastic container and keep refrigerated until ready to use.

Tips

Serve dip/spread with pita bread or crusty village bread.
Taramosalata is great with crudités and an excellent choice for canapés and/or pinwheels.
Taramosalata keeps for about a week or so in the refrigerator

Other serving suggestions which are not so Greek but oh so tasty: