Skordalia – a garlicky Greek dip made with potatoes, almonds, and olive oil – can be used as a dip or a spread. It's delicious on crusty bread, artichokes, or with grilled or roasted lamb.
Note: If you want to grind your own almonds, whirl an equal amount of blanched or blanched and slivered almonds in a blender, spice grinder, or coffee grinder until finely ground. Just be careful to stop before the mixture starts turning into almond butter!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: About 2 cups Skordalia
Ingredients:
- 1 medium russet potato
- Salt
- 8 cloves garlic
- About 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. good quality red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup ground blanched almonds
Preparation:
- Peel potato and cut it into even chunks. Put potato chunks in in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and add enough salt so the water tastes as salty as sea water. Reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer and cook until potato is very tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and run potato chunks through a ricer into a medium bowl or mash them thoroughly.
- While potatoes cook, peel garlic cloves and whirl them in a blender with about 1/4 cup of the olive oil and the vinegar to create a smooth purée. You may need to add a bit more olive oil to get the mixture to whirl smoothly. Alternatively, you can mash the garlic in a mortar and pestle.
- Stir garlic mixture into the potatoes. Add ground almonds and stir to combine thoroughly. Slowly stir in remaining olive oil, stirring constantly as your pour a thin stream of oil into the mixture. Add salt to taste.
- Serve Skordalia at room temperature. It can be stored, covered and chilled, for a few hours. Be warned: The longer you keep it, the stronger the already strong garlic flavor will get.
