This is one of my favourite sauces. Romesco Sauce. You can use it with fish,
meat, vegetables… A very rewarding sauce. Let’s cook.
Ingredients:
2 dried red peppers
2 small mature tomatoes
1 garlic bulb
12 roasted almonds
12 roasted hazelnuts
A slice of bread
Some extra virgin olive oil
Some red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon pimentón
Salt to taste
Some freshly ground black pepper, to taste
A pinch of cayena pepper
First we will have to prepare the dried red peppers. Soak them overnight
in a container. The next day, open them and remove the seeds. Then take the
flesh of the peppers and discard the skin. Reserve the flesh.
The next step is roasting the tomatoes and the garlic. The oven has to
be preheated to 400ºF. Roast the tomatoes for about 20 minutes and the garlic
bulb for 10 minutes. When they are roasted, remove the skin from the garlic and
cut them in little pieces. Wrap the tomatoes in paper for 10 minutes and then
remove the skin from them. Get rid of the tomato seeds too. Then cut them in
little pieces.
Take the bread and fry it a bit with some drops of olive oil. Then break
it into pieces and reserve.
You can use a food processor or a mortar. I will use a food processor
because it is more convenient.
Once we have all the ingredients ready, put them in a food processor.
Add a bit of olive oil and a bit of good red wine vinegar. And start blending.
What we have to do is blending, stopping and stirring the sauce so that we get
a well blended sauce. And add more olive oil little by little. You might have
to add some more vinegar too. Check that too. If you want, you can add some
spicy ingredients, but do not add too much.
The secret is to taste the sauce so that we get the correct taste and
consistency. You can get the consistency you like. I do not like it to be too
soft. It is important not to add too much oil or vinegar at the beginning. It
is better to be adjusting it in the process. Add some salt and freshly ground
pepper to taste.
You can serve the Romesco Sauce once it is prepared or preserve it in a
glass jar and let it rest. It is tastier after some time. Really delicious. Enjoy!