Thursday, November 8, 2012

Recipe: Skordalia

I was finally reading a booklet I purchased at an organic farming conference called Growing and Using Garlic, A Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin. Looking through the recipes, I saw one I did not recognize, Skordalia, which is a Greek recipe typically made with potatoes as a base (but not always) that is considered a ‘comfort food’. It is used as a dip or a sauce, but in either case, with lots of added garlic.

The word skordalia comes from a hybrid of ‘skor’ (Greek for garlic) and ‘dalia’ (Italian for garlicky). So there you have it, ‘garlic-garlicky’! How in the world did we miss this dish all these years? It makes me wonder what else is still new in the world to us. 


There are many ways to make this recipe. Here is what I did, which is a compilation from many recipes on the internet:
Ingredients:
  • 2 baking potatoes
  • 10-12 cloves garlic (I used 3 giant cloves), peel
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (I used about 1/4 teaspoon)
  • 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup – 1 cup olive oil


Directions:
  1. Bake the potatoes until fully cooked (knife or fork should pierce easily)
  2. While potatoes are baking, peel, and finely chop or mash (I did use a garlic press) the garlic, add salt and mix until the garlic is a paste
  3. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle but still warm, scoop out insides. There should be 2-3 cups of potatoes.
  4. Mash the potatoes, add garlic, and red wine vinegar.
  5. Slowly add the olive oil, continuing to mash, until mixture is blended together and a little thinner than hummus.
  6. Taste and add more salt if necessary.
  7. Spread on a plate or platter and surround with vegetables (I used roasted beets, which is a traditional way of serving it) or crackers or pita bread
  8. Drizzle with a little more olive oil, garnish if desired (I used chopped green garlic, but parsley would also be fine, or nothing at all)
I’m going to also have fun making this dish using bread and/or walnuts as a base. In any case, Skordalia will become a staple in our list of ‘go-to’ recipes. I served it as an appetizer before going out to eat with friends. I wonder how to say ‘Pretty Good!’ in Greek!


The smashed garlic ready to add to the mashed potatoes along with an example of the size of the three garlic cloves I used, which would be close to the typical size of 10-12 cloves.


Skordalia topped with a drizzle of olive oil, garnished with the tops of fall green garlic and surrounded by roasted beets ready to serve as an appetizer with great friends and great beer.

A new food - that does not happen everyday! I'm serious about wondering what else is new! I'll be on the look-out. :)

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row,

Diana Dyer, MS, RD

1 comment:

Kateri said...

Diana, thanks for sharing this recipe. I am looking forward to trying it!