It’s Clean Monday, early morning, and my grandpa is beating the fish roe in a big wooden mortar, slowly adding drops of hot water… This lasts more than an hour… Then my mother takes over for the rest… Taramosalata, or fish roe dip, was her responsibility, and hers alone, every year, for a long time… That is the memory that accompanies this family recipe. And if you picture my grandpa, looking like Heidi’s own, a large, heavy old man, you will realise that in my mind it was all some kind of ritual.
Of course, I don’t think I could ever bear to make taramosalata over such long hours, no matter how much I like it – and I like it a lot… Every Clean Monday, as I eat taramosalata, I wonder why we don’t make these special treats more often…
I’ve tried many nice taramosalata dips, in homes and restaurants, but the ones that always stood out to me were the ones with a mousse-like light texture. Looking on the internet for a “mousse-y” taramosalata, I discovered that the magic ingredient that brought this airiness was, quite possibly, carbonated water! And I was so happy that on my first try, my suspicions were confirmed…
INGREDIENTS
- 140g of white fish roe
- 2 small potatoes, boiled and mashed with a fork
- 1 medium onion, dry and blended
- 50ml of carbonated water
- Juice from 2 lemons (about 70ml)
- 300-350ml of light olive oil (yes, you read that right, this recipe needs a lot)
- 2-3 tbsp of chopped dill
INSTRUCTIONS
Put the fish roe in a blender, along with the mashed potatoes, lemon juice, onion and carbonated water and beat for about 8 to 10 minutes. If your blender is too small, take a couple of short breaks – you don’t want the poor thing to burn out!
My mother, who also has a small blender does it like this: she beats the mix for 4 – 5 minutes, in order to “break the fish roe eggs” and then continues with a simple mixer.
After battering the mix, add some olive oil, very slowly, to give the mix the time to absorb the oil before you pour some more. That will take some time, but in total taramosalata needs about 20 minutes of pretty intense battering.
In the end, add the dill, mix well with a spoon and leave the taramosalata to rest in the fridge, so that all the tastes blend together well.
And if you give it the joy of spreading it over a good lagana flatbread, homemade or not, it won’t let you down…
