TaraMATTsalata

My friend, Matt, who I loving refer to as the Cynical Chef, brings this dish to all the potlucks and office parties he attends.

TARAMASALATA a la MATT

Just whipped up some delicious taramasalata from an improvised recipe:
1 10-ounce jar tarama (carp roe). Make sure not to buy already-made taramasalata sold in similar jars. You could substitute other fish roe that hasn't been given a caviar treatment.
1-2 cloves garlic
approximately 1/4 small onion, finely grated (I used a microplane)
dash salt
juice of one lemon
about 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
four slices cheap white bread and some stale pita, soaked in water
fresh-milled black pepper
Ingredients should be at room temperature. I used a large mortar and pestle, but a food processor or blender would also work.

Crush the garic, onion and salt into a paste. Add the lemon juice and tarama and pound for a while to break up some of the eggs. Whisk in olive oil in a thin stream as if making a mayonaise (which, indeed, you are). Squeeze out excess water from the soaked bread and pita; break up and whisk into the mixture and season with fresh-milled pepper. Adjust seasonings (if too salty, add more lemon juice).

Serve with wedges of pita, veggies and a side dish of olives.

NOTE: Our friends at www.cellartastings.com recommend this greek wine with taramasalata.

Try this dish with: Amethystos dry white wine, Constantin Lazaridis
From the wine region of Drama, located in Greece’s mountainous beautiful Macedonia wine producing area, in the community of Adriani, lies one of our favorite wineries in Greece- Constantin Lazaridis. Leaders in top Greek wine production and also in wine tourism in Greece, Lazaridis makes a range of wines from the Amethystos brand, to Chateau Julia, the flagship range. They also have an interesting distillery where they produce Eau-de-Vie.

The white Amethystos wine is made with principally Sauvignon Blanc, in an ultra dry, very zippy style. It tastes quite similar to how you would imagine a Bordeaux “Entre-deux-Mers”, as indeed it is blended with Semillon blanc and also the Greek varietal, Aegean Assyrtiko. The color is pale straw with hints of green and the bouquet is pure peaches! The flavours and aromas are intense and there is a lovely, long finish. Highly recommended.