034Taramosalata

Method

Traditional white roe and bread emulsion. Traditionally served with lagana flatbread on Clean Monday, or with crusty sourdough.

You will need

• food processor
• mixing bowl
• measuring jug

1. Tear the crustless stale bread into chunks, place in a bowl, submerge in cold water for 5 minutes, then lift out and squeeze firmly with your hands to expel as much water as possible. 5 min Ready when: bread damp but compact and not waterlogged
2. Place the cured roe, squeezed grated onion, and squeezed bread into a food processor or mortar. 2 min
3. Process on medium speed until the ingredients break down into a smooth, thick paste. 3 min Ready when: uniform smooth paste
4. Combine the olive oil and sunflower oil in a measuring jug. 1 min
5. With the processor running, pour in the blended oil in a thin, continuous trickle, alternating every few tablespoons with splashes of lemon juice, until completely incorporated. 7 min Ready when: pale, fluffy, and glossy mayonnaise-like texture
6. Taste the taramosalata and adjust acidity with more lemon juice if required, then transfer to a serving dish and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. 2 min Ready when: smooth, aerated, and holding gentle peaks

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Make ahead and storing

Can be made up to 3 days in advance and kept refrigerated.

Fridge 5 days in a sealed container

Substitutions

• potato for stale white sourdough bread. Boiled, riced floury potatoes can replace bread for a potato-based taramosalata (taramokeftedes style base).
• olive-oil for neutral vegetable or sunflower oil. Using 100 percent olive oil is traditional in some regions, though it yields a heavier and more bitter flavour profile.

Common mistakes

• Using dyed bright-pink commercial tarama paste. Artificially coloured pink tarama contains high levels of food dye and salt, compromising the clean, sweet roe flavour.
• Adding the oil too rapidly. Pouring the oil too quickly splits the emulsion, leaving an oily, separated sauce rather than a velvety dip.

Regional variants

• Taramosalata me patata using boiled mashed potatoes instead of bread

About the dish

Taramosalata is the quintessential meze of Clean Monday (Kathara Deftera), marking the beginning of Great Lent when meat and dairy are proscribed. Traditionally made with 'tarama'—the salted, cured roe of carp or cod—it is beaten into a silky emulsion using day-old bread or boiled potato, lemon juice, and oil. Authentic Greek home cooks prefer white roe (lefkos taramas), which yields a pale ivory emulsion, rather than the artificially dyed vivid pink roe often produced for export.

Found in all of Greece. Cooked for everyday, lent, clean monday.

Cousins elsewhere

• Tarama (Turkish). Made from preserved fish roe beaten with bread, oil, and lemon, sharing linguistic and culinary roots.
• Salată de icre (Romanian). A carp or pike roe emulsion whipped with neutral oil and lemon juice, widely eaten across Romania.

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

462 kcal · protein 7.1 g · fat 40.3 g (saturated 5.2 g) · carbohydrate 18.9 g (sugars 1.5 g) · fibre 0.9 g · sodium 643 mg

An estimate (summed from ingredient estimates) that varies with the exact ingredients. It is not dietary advice.

Written fresh by Epikouria editors from general culinary tradition. Recipe by the Epikouria editors. Clean Monday home standard, balancing robust extra virgin olive oil with neutral oil for lightness..

Read more

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