Tarator Sauce

This is an all-purpose Middle Eastern sauce for fish, salads, cooked vegetables, and pita bread. The Turks prefer to use walnuts and hazelnuts. The Syrians and Lebanese use pine nuts and occasionally almonds. I like it with walnuts (even though it turns a funny shade of purple), hazelnuts, pine nuts, and the less conventional pistachios. The latter is especially good with the fritto misto of shellfish, especially deep-fried mussels.

Tarator can be spread on fish before