The Greek Food

Tag: skordalia

  • Traditional Cod with Garlic sauce

    Traditional Cod with Garlic sauce

    The following recipe, I’m guessing that it will make many people wondered why it is tagged as a greek traditional. The fact is that it has not been promoted as much as any other greek recipe’s but it is one that has been in the Greek table for many years.

    Cod with skordalia sauce (garlic sauce) is a dish that is being cooked traditionally in Greece on the 25th of March, as a way to celebrate the day which independence fight against the old Ottoman Empire started in 1821.

    The history behind is a bit weird as there are different myths and stories on why that specific dish became so traditional, and how it started to be the typical dish to eat at that day. Also no one knows why the cod needs to be “pastos” meaning “salted” in order to have the dish. Maybe because according to one legend at that time many English were sending salted cod in Greece for exchange to raisins…

    Another story is that 25th of March is always happening on the 40 days of fasting before Orthodox easter. Because of the importance to the celebration for religion also , the church is allowing to all the Christians to eat that day only fish. As it wasn’t possible to get  fresh fish on the mountains they were eating salted cod which slowly became as the casual dish at that day.

    Nobody really knows!

    Either way, what we really care to this is on the recipe and the real secret on this dish lies on the skordalia sauce that Ive talked about it in a different post which you can find over here.

    Explaining how to make the haddock will be bad for all the UK readers of this blog as it is well known that it is one of there traditional dishes and they know it i guess by heart 🙂

    Cod with Skordalia Recipe (Bakaliaros Skordalia)

    Either way here it is

    • 300ml of lager beer
    • Around 1 and 1/2 cup of self raising flour
    • Salt pepper
    • Oh yeah and pieces of cod cut in various sizes.

    Step 1

    In a big bowl put the beer and the flower and stir them until they become properly mixed. Put them to the fridge for 20 minutes. In the meantime put salt and pepper on the cod as much as you want

    Step 2

    After 20 minutes take the mixture out of the fridge and “dive” the cod pieces inside . In a pan with couple of frying oil that is all ready preheated you add the cod pieces and fry them on both sides until they have that red cover on both sides.

     

    Serve them -necessarily- with the Skordalia recipe in order to have the proper traditional greek cod and garlic sauce recipe.

  • Skordalia recipe: the greek garlic sauce

    Skordalia recipe: the greek garlic sauce

    The problem with the following recipe is that it can be a recipe for disaster if it gets to the wrong hands. Its like building a delicate piece of equipment with some really dangerous pieces that if you connect them in a wrong way, it can have a destructive effect.

    Allow me to explain….

    Skordalia is translated in English to…garlic sauce! However, it is nothing like the garlic sauces that you can usually try here in the UK. When we say garlic, we really mean garlic! There are different interpretations of that recipe and it has to do with each ones preferences and likeness of garlic.

    The problems come when you are in a house (like ours) where they prefer to eat their garlic sauce with …a lot of garlic. You have no idea what i mean …. You, will try a single dip and you will have a dragon breath for ages.

    Despite that, garlic sauce -or skordalia- is a really common sauce in most restaurants and an integral part of the “starters” in a greek meal.

    Lets see how to make it!

    INGREDIENTS FOR SKORDALIA

    • 3 medium size potatoes
    • 4 big cloves of garlic
    • 3 slices of bread wet and dried, without the hard outside part ( you know what i mean :p)
    • 2 teaspoons of white vinegar
    • 4 teaspoons of olive oil
    • Salt and pepper

    Get the children out of the house…aaand….Lets begin!

    Method to make Skordalia

    1. In a small pot add water and throw inside the potatoes in small pieces. Let them boil and when they are ready ( they can be pinched with a fork) get them out and leave them in a plate.
    2. In a blender, add the potatoes and the 4 cloves of garlic and start mixing them until they become mashed and mixed Stop, open the blender, add the watered and dried bread, the vinegar, olive oil and salt/pepper as much as you want. Close and continue mixing them with the blender until they are properly mixed.
    3. Taste, and add garlic if you believe it too soft. Add more oil if you think it is too thick, or bead if you feel it is too watery. Ideally it should be in the middle.

    THE TEST!

    How do you know that the garlic sauce is right? Well, it is difficult as a cook as you are trying so many times that you loose sometimes the flavor. So, as a smart scientist/cook that i am i conducted an experiment so i can be sure, that i will be telling to you free of charge.

    I asked my Italian flatmate to come and try a bit of the garlic sauce and then i told her to go and kiss her boyfriend that was in her room and come back to report to me what he said.

    After some minutes of agony, she came back and told me that after kissing the victim he pushed her back and asked her: “What are you eating????” Success!!! The victim realized initially the flavor of garlic in his mouth!

    Our skordalia is ready! Enjoy!