Potato skordalia

Ingredients

250 g	Potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes (Main)
3	Garlic cloves, or 4
½ tsp	Sea salt
1 Tbsp	Red wine vinegar, or lemon juice
200 ml	Extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Cook the potatoes in salted water until tender, about 15 minutes; drain and mash until smooth
2. Pound the garlic with the sea salt in a pestle and mortar until pureed.
3. Add the garlic paste and vinegar to the potatoes and gradually beat in the olive oil, mixing vigorously with a wooden spoon.
4. Season with sea salt and black pepper and serve at room temperature.
5. If you are using a pestle and mortar to make the skordalia, add a little cooked potato to the crushed garlic and pound until smooth.
6. Add the vinegar and a little oil and repeat, adding a little more potato and oil, until they are both incorporated.
7. Season with sea salt and black pepper and serve at room temperature.
8. If using a food-processor, pound the garlic with the salt and place in the processor with the drained, cooked, warm potatoes, along with the vinegar, half the oil and blitz until smooth.
9. With the motor still running, gradually add the remaining oil. Season with sea salt and black pepper and serve at room temperature.

Variation:Quince Skordalia - Add a couple of tablespoons of quince paste to either the potato or bread skordalia recipe. You can serve skordalia with pretty much anything — as a simple dip with warm bread, an accompaniment to grilled fish and shellfish, with barbecued mussels and roasted meats and vegetables too. I usually serve a skordalia with keftedes.