Day 29: Potato leftovers are good for Skordalia! (Greek garlic sauce/dip)

We have all had leftovers.  Sometimes, depending on what you made, you like the leftovers.  Other times, though, you wish there were none.  So, what do you do with your leftovers?  For us, it fully depends on what the leftovers are to know what the next step would be.  Some things you cannot make into other dishes, or re-use.  Other items are reusable in various forms.  Yesterday, with our potato salad, we boiled too many potatoes.  We enjoyed boiled potatoes with our lunch today, but there are still a few left.  After a meal or two, boiled potatoes don't hod the same attraction that they did when they were fresh.  So, what do you do with them?   Well, we decided to make skordalia (σκορδαλιά ; garlic sauce).


Skordalia (σκορδαλιά) is a traditional dip, sauce, or side dish for the Greeks.  It is usually served along with fried foods of all kinds -- in fact, on March 25th, next week, we will be enjoying skordalia with our fried μπακαλιάρος (salt cod).


There are several ways to make skordalia, and I don't believe that there is a bad recipe, because there is no such thing as bad garlic sauce.  Actually, anything with garlic good with us!  So, skordalia it is.  With many recipes, the basic ingredients are garlic, potatoes, oil, wine vinegar, and salt.  There are varieties that include eggs or lemon juice.  Eggs are not typical in the Greek recipes, that would make the garlic sauce more Italian or French; and the lemon juice is more regional throughout Greece.  Lemon and wine vinegar are somewhat interchangeable, so either or a combination of the two would be acceptable.  There are also variations that include nuts, or bread, or lima beans, or even sweet potatoes.  Once again, these are regional variations, and all would be acceptable.


The Greeks have used garlic for so long, it is almost synonymous with disease prevention.  In the ancient times, physicians would suggest garlic as a digestive aid and a disease preventing aid because of the potent smell and the juices that come from the fresh bulb.  Even today, people will take garlic pills or eat a clove of garlic a day to help ward off disease and illness.


This is how one makes skordalia, according to the wonderful and award-winning cookbook Three Sisters, Around the Greek Table recipe:


To serve 6 as a side dish (makes about 3 cups of skordalia)


about 2 pounds of yellow potatoes
1/2 cup olive oil
2 TBSP wine vinegar
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 tsp salt


Peel and cut the potatoes.  Place them in a large pot of boiling water until they are cooked through -- about 30 minutes.
Drain the potatoes and put in a mixing bowl. 
Lightly mash the potatoes.
Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, and salt in a small bowl and add to the potatoes.  Vigorously mash the potatoes until they are creamy and smooth.
Taste it.  Adjust the salt if needed.

(No, one person didn't eat the entire Skordalia in one sitting!)

We followed this recipe, and enjoyed it.  It was a little different than our typical skordalia recipe (the one Yiayia taught us years ago that we don't measure amounts).  For the past few years, we have become accustomed to a smooth and creamy, spreadable skordalia.  But, this one was a little thicker, and had more texture to it.  It was light in the garlic flavour, but had a nice accent from the vinegar.  I think that we really look forward to the bite of the garlic.  And, as long as everyone is eating the skordalia, then the potency of the garlic does not affect anyone.  We would use this recipe again, especially if we were making this for a crowd.

From St. Gregory the Theologian (The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Second Series Vol. VII; Eerdmans pgs. 432-433):

"Do you conceive of your Lord as less because? He shows that humiliation is the best road to exaltation (cf. Mt. 23:12); because He humbles Himself for the sake of the soul that is bent down to the ground, that He may even exalt within Himself that which is bent double under a weight of sin?... If so, you must blame the physician for stooping over suffering and putting up with evil smells in order to give health to the sick?"