Mainland Potato Skordalia (Σκορδαλιά Πατάτας)

Mainland potato skordalia is the garlic dip that stands beside fried salt cod, boiled beets, and the Lenten table. It is pale, thick, sharp with raw garlic, and softened only by potato and good olive oil. The region is the dish's surname here, because the islands may pound almonds or bread, while the mainland often reaches for potatoes.

The one rule is simple. Make the garlic into a true paste before you add the potato. A rough chop gives you little burning pieces; a paste spreads the garlic through the whole bowl, so every spoonful has the same thunderclap and the same calm after it.

Serve it at room temperature, never fridge-cold, with bakaliaros, fried salt cod, if you are keeping the old March table, or with beets and horta for a fasting meal. This is nistisimo food with teeth. I don't invent it. I find it, I test it, I write it down.