Romesco Sauce

Romesco is a classic sauce originating from Catalonia, Spain. It is typically made from roasted tomatoes and garlic, toasted almonds, or hazelnuts, olive oil, and nyora peppers. Day old bread toasted in olive oil is used to thicken the sauce. This version uses almonds, roasted red peppers (from a jar to keep it simple) and smoked paprika. The sauce comes together quickly in a food processor. I like to eat Romesco with grilled vegetables, potatoes, crusty bread, or as a sandwich spread. I think the recipe is a bit forgiving. If you have more tomatoes and less peppers, you could make it work. Really it's just about balancing the flavours. A bit of acidity, seasoned with salt and pepper, a bit of smoked paprika and bread as needed to thicken. I always take a taste and adjust these things until it seems balanced.

I made this sauce and then prepared the following things for a simple tasty meal (pictured/linked below.)

• "Calcots con Romesco" (Grilled Spring Onions with Romesco) 
•  "Espinacas Con Garbanzo" (Spinach with Chickpeas)
• Olive Oil Grilled Crusty Bread. 

All the bites piled onto the bread with extra Romesco along side was delicious.

Romesco Sauce

Yield: about 3 cups

Ingredients:

• 500 ml jar roasted red peppers, discard liquid (there was about 2 1/2 whole peppers in my jar)
• 1 whole tomato 
• 1/2 cup toasted almonds
• 1/2 cup Fruity Good Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 6 cloves garlic (I'll probably add more next time)
• 5 slices white baguette (or as needed)
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 5 tbsp sherry vinegar 
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar (I added this because I'm always trying to balance flavours at the end...I used to make Romesco exclusively with red wine vinegar...it adds something I like..)
• 3/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/8th tsp cayenne (or more to taste)

Method:

1. The first step is to roast the tomato, garlic and bread in a bit of olive oil. I decided to do this in a pan to keep things simple. Smash garlic cloves with flat side of your knice, (remove peel), slice tomato in half, & slice thick pieces of baguette.
2. Add olive oil to a pan over medium heat and toss everything in, season with S & P, turning as needed until everything has a bit of colour. 
3. Then in a food processor, blitz roasted red peppers, almonds, tomato, garlic and bread until  combined into a coarse mixture. Now drizzle in olive oil, vinegar and season with salt, pepper & cayenne. If mixture seems really thin add another slice of bread. 

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