Recipe: Greek Skordalia (Garlic Potato Dish)

Lyle first tasted this classic Greek dish in a taverna in Athens in 1978. He then kept ordering and enjoying it across Greece from Crete to Thasos. While we may not associate Greek food with potatoes, Skordalia can be found in nearly every Greek village. You can use your cured garlic (not the green garlic) in this dish and amp up the garlic level to your taste bud’s tolerance. Sylvia likes to use leftover Skordalia to make potato pancakes for breakfast the next morning with minced dill or parsley. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 cups mashed potatoes, preferably made with red potatoes (with or without peel)
  • 5 slices white artisan or sandwich bread, 1/2 inch thick, decrusted and cut or torn into cubes
  • 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 fresh lemons, juiced
  • 8 to 10 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 1/2 cup water
  • Sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Prepare mashed potatoes and set aside to cool to room temperature.
  2. Soak bread cubes thoroughly in olive oil for one hour.
  3. Puree the soaked bread cubes using a food processor or by hand. In a food processor, pulse the bread cubes 5 or 6 times until blended to the consistency of mashed potatoes. By hand, mash using a fork or potato masher.
  4. Combine the remaining ingredients together until blended. Salt and pepper to taste.