Instructions: Walnuts are grown in temperate areas throughout the world, but nowhere is their aromatic bitterness used so well as in the Mediterranean and its hinterlands. There, they star in creamy, chunky sauces that have universal appeal.

Although skordalia is known as a garlicky potato puree, that name is also used in Greece for a walnut sauce I especially like.

Reading the recipe does not give much clue to the results. With a food processor (or, to be traditional, a mortar and pestle), you combine bread, milk or stock, walnuts, garlic, a little oil and strong paprika or chili powder. The results, incredibly, are like a thick, nutty mayonnaise.

The sauce is best on white fish and meat. Here, I serve it with chicken sauteed in its own fat, with just salt and pepper.

Like mayonnaise, skordalia can be varied at will. In Turkey, where it is usually called tarator, Ive had versions with pine nuts or even hazelnuts.

Vinegar or lemon juice is often included, though I find walnuts so bitter that additional acidity is not necessary. Cumin can be used along with the paprika, or in its place. My favorite variation is to stir in a lot of chopped parsley - a couple cups of leaves, washed, dried and roughly chopped - to turn the sauce into something approaching a salad. It also makes an amazing base for a chicken salad: Just combine a couple of cups of shredded chicken with enough skordalia to bind it. It may steer you away from mayonnaise forever.

MYSTERIOUSLY LIKE MAYONNAISE BY MARK BITTMAN New York Times

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