Mount Athos Tahinosoupa (Αγιορείτικη Ταχινόσουπα)

Mount Athos tahinosoupa is a monk's soup from the fasting table: tahini whisked into lemony broth with kritharaki, the small Greek orzo that makes it filling without making it heavy. No oil, no butter, no egg. Just sesame, lemon, water, and patience.

The whole soup depends on how you add the tahini. Whisk it first with lemon and hot broth until it loosens, then return it to the pot off the heat. Let it boil hard and it separates into a rough, bitter-looking broth. Treat it gently and it turns silky, almost like avgolemono, but entirely nistisimo, fit for the strict fast.

I like this dish because it refuses decoration. Λίγα και καλά: a few things, and good ones. Use tahini that smells fresh and sweet, not dusty, and squeeze the lemon yourself. The region is the dish's surname here too, and on Athos the surname is monastic restraint.