Aegean Taramosalata (Ταραμοσαλάτα)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •small food processor, about 1.5 litre, or a large stone mortar
• •fine sieve for the grated onion, if using
• •shallow 20cm serving bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the bread

   Put the torn bread in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes, then squeeze it hard in your fists until it is damp but no longer dripping. This bread is the body of the taramosalata. Leave too much water in it and the dip goes loose before the oil has even begun.

   Use plain white country bread, not sweet sandwich bread. The crusts darken the color and make the texture rough.
2. 2

   Start the base

   Taste the tarama first. It should be deeply salty, but not bitter or metallic. Put the tarama in a small food processor with 30ml of the lemon juice and the grated onion, if using, and pulse until smooth. Add the squeezed bread and pulse again, scraping the sides, until you have a thick pale paste.

   If your processor bowl is large, use the small insert or double the recipe. A blade spinning above the tarama whips nothing.
3. 3

   Add oil slowly

   With the machine running, add the olive oil at first drop by drop, then in the thinnest thread you can manage. Alternate with the remaining lemon juice and spoonfuls of cold water. This is the step that decides the dish: tarama and bread hold oil when it arrives slowly. Hurry, and the oil slips out in a greasy shine instead of turning pale and creamy.

   If it starts to split, stop the oil. Add 1 tablespoon cold water or a small piece of squeezed bread, process until it tightens, then continue more slowly.
4. 4

   Balance the flavor

   Let the taramosalata stand for 5 minutes, then taste. It should be salty, sharp with lemon, and rounded by the oil, not sour and not heavy. Add a little cold water if it is too stiff, or a few drops of lemon if it tastes flat. Do not add salt.

5. 5

   Chill to set

   Spoon the taramosalata into a shallow bowl, cover, and chill for at least 1 hour. The bread firms as it rests, and the salt settles through the whole bowl. If it becomes too firm after chilling, beat in cold water 1 teaspoon at a time.

6. 6

   Serve with lagana

   Make a shallow well in the surface and pour in the 15ml olive oil. Set one Kalamata olive on top if you like. Serve cold or cool with lagana, the flat Clean Monday bread, or with toasted country bread for scraping the bowl clean.

Chef Tips

• •Buy white or pale beige tarama from a fishmonger if you can. The bright pink kind is usually colored and often harsher. Λίγα και καλά: a few things, and good ones.
• •Tarama is cured, not cooked. Keep it cold, use a clean spoon, and eat the finished taramosalata within 3 days.
• •This belongs to the road toward Easter, especially Clean Monday, not the Easter Sunday meat table. It is part of the Greek fasting table in practice, but it is not plant-based because tarama is fish roe.
• •If you only have very salty tarama, start with 60g instead of 80g and taste before adding more. A good cook corrects the salt before the bowl is ruined.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the taramosalata up to 24 hours ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator.
• •Soak and squeeze the bread up to 2 hours ahead, then keep it covered so it stays damp.
• •Take the bowl from the refrigerator 15 minutes before serving so the olive oil loosens and the lemon comes forward.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 100g)