Mediterranean garlic sauce

Prepare this easy Mediterranean garlic sauce recipe so you will enjoy a fast dipping sauce to serve with deep fried fish or a delicious mayonnaise substitute.

My inspiration for this recipe came after reading how Greek chef Rena V. made a Greek garlic sauce with mashed potatoes. Rena V. has been cooking for more than 40 years, always looking to make sure her food is delicious, healthy, balanced and – now even more than ever in Greece – payable.

You can read her original recipe for her Greek garlic sauce or ‘Skorthalia‘: a mash of 1 potato stirred with 1 freshly cut garlic, 1/2 a cup each of olive oil and fish stock (she was frying a fish filet that day and since every penny counts, must have made a stock of the rest of the fish. Adding a dash of taste with 2 tablespoons of vinegar and a pinch of salt.

Since I always try to work fast in the kitchen, I reckoned I could add 3 garlic cloves whilst boiling the potatoes, since that makes mashing the garlic so much easier without having to cut them. Unfortunately, that doesn’t give add the pronounced garlic taste to the sauce, so I had to add 1 fresh clove.

The vinegar was substituted by fresh calamansi juice, since I find juice of any fresh lime in a cold sauce always more refreshing than using vinegar.

Since I wasn’t cooking fish, I substituted the stock with milk: which made the sauce whiter and added to the smooth consistency. (another option would be to substitute milk and lime juice with yoghurt).

I didn’t measure the amount of milk and olive oil, as it all depends of the size and the type of the potato used and the consistency of the sauce you are looking for. Do know that pressed garlic is an emulsifier, so the more garlic you use, the more your sauce will become like mayonnaise.

My Mediterranean garlic sauce recipe

• 1 boiled potato
• olive oil and milk from grass fed cows: in equal quantities
• a good pinch of salt
• 3 (or more) boiled garlic cloves
• 1 fresh garlic clove
• juice of 1 calamansi lime

How to make this easy garlic sauce recipe

1. Boil your potato in salted water together with the 3 garlic cloves.
2. After 16 minutes or so when the potato is boiled, remove the water, let the vapor escape and add olive oil.
3. Cut the fresh garlic clove and mash with the side of your knife.
4. Add the mashed garlic, some salt and half the juice of the calamansi to the potato and mash the cooked potato and the cooked garlic with a fork.
5. Add more olive oil and milk and well stir with a fork until the color of the sauce becomes more white and you reach your desired consistency.
6. Taste and add more salt or lime juice if needed.
7. I served this Mediterranean garlic sauce on oven toasted bread brushed with garlic and a simple tomato salsa with fresh basil leaves.