Skordalia: a Greek potato and garlic sauce, served as an appetizing dip or spread for bread or… as a side sauce for fried fish!
I made a skordalia before but I have to admit that this easy looking recipe bit me in the *ss a couple of times. My Greek recipe cookbook asked for 10 garlic cloves for the same amount of potatoes as in the recipe below.
I think that my neighbours are still talking about it.
Yew!
Garlic
Now I know the amount of garlic I like in it.
And I also prefer to poach the raw garlic first, just to remove the sharpest flavor.
But the most important ingredient is: floury potatoes. If you use waxy ones, you will end up with a mouthful of potato glue.
That is also a mistake I used to make, use the wrong type of potatoes.
So I finally managed to prepare a good skordalia with a little help from my Greek friends Panos and Mirella from Athens.
If you want to know more about skordalia, check this article!
Thanks guys!
Easy Skordalia (Greek Potato & Garlic Dip)
In Greece you can also find skordalia with bread instead of potatoes.
Remove the crusts, soak the bread in water for a couple of minutes, squeeze it out well and then add the remaining ingredients. I personally prefer the potato version.
The bread version can sometimes be a little ‘grainy’ and if you are using old(er) bread you taste that pretty well.
Skordalia is traditionally served as an appetizing dip or spread for bread or as a side sauce for fried fish. Love that combination.
I served it once with a fantastic fried whiting.
Fried Fish
This time I spread it of some bread, sprinkled with pepper and olive oil and some black olives and capers.
Delicious.
Do you love Greek dips?
Then you should also check out my version of taramasalata, a fish roe dip!
Enjoy!
Easy Greek Skordalia Potato & Garlic Dip Recipe
Skordalia: a Greek potato and garlic sauce!
- 1 lb floury potatoes (450 g)
- 4 medium garlic cloves
- good quality olive oil
- 1 bay leaf
- pepper
- salt
-
Rinse the potatoes but don’t peel them. Fill a pan with cold water, add the potatoes and place it over high heat.
-
Cook the potatoes until tender and then drain them. Let them cool a bit. Peel the potatoes while still warm and then chop them up into small bits.
-
Peel and chop the garlic finely. Add them to a small saucepan together with the bay leaf and half a cup (120 ml) of water.
-
Place this over medium heat and gently boil the garlic for 5 to 6 minutes. Then add a little splash of olive oil and a pinch of pepper and salt.
-
Take the garlic off the heat and remove the bay leaf. Let it cool a little. Then pour the garlic and water in a high cup and blend it with a stick mixer until you get a milky liquid.
-
Add the chopped potatoes back to the pan you boiled them in and mash them up.
-
Then little by little pour in the garlic milk and keep on mashing the potatoes more and more.
-
You can also use a stick mixer and blend the potatoes into a puree.
-
Once you have added all of the garlic milk add a splash of olive oil and a pinch of pepper and salt.
-
Stir the skordalia well until it is super smooth and creamy.
-
Check the seasoning and add extra pepper, salt or olive oil to taste if necessary. Scoop the skordalia in a large bowl and serve lukewarm.
