Today is a national holiday in Greece. Regarding the Greek Orthodox Church, it is Clean Monday (Kathará Deftéra) a religious feast equivalent to Shrove Monday or Mardi Gras. Actually it is the first day of the  pre-Easter lent period that lasts for 40 days.

There are some dishes that are consumed traditionally on this day and one of them is a very tasty dip that recently has become very popular abroad amongst famous food bloggers and chefs!

It’s a cod roe dip, it’s extremely delicious to the point that it can become addictive!

In Greek it’s called “Taramosalata” or just “Taramá”

Recipe:

150 gr white bread, stale and without the crust

280 gr cod roe

1 medium size white onion

200 ml esti extra virgin olive oil

Juice of one lemon

Pepper

esti Kalamata olives to serve

Put the bread in a bowl and cover with cold water.  Drain after a couple of minutes and squeeze out well the excess water.

Grate the onion as finely as you can.

Place the bread, onion and roe in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Slowly add the olive oil and lemon juice, little by little each time, until well combined.

Taste to see if it needs more lemon. Season, but only with pepper, not salt- the roe is salty enough!

Serve in a bowl, drizzle with some esti extra virgin olive oil and some esti Kalamata olives on top.