Romesco Sauce
A thick, brick-red Catalan sauce of roasted red peppers, toasted almonds, garlic, tomato, stale bread, and sherry vinegar, pounded together into a rustic paste with smoked paprika and good olive oil. Romesco is one of those sauces that makes everything it touches better — grilled vegetables, fish, roasted chicken, even a fried egg. It originates from the fishermen of Tarragona who needed a bold sauce for their catch, and it has not changed much since.
Ingredients
- 2 largeroasted red peppers
- 60 gblanched almonds
- 3 clovesgarlic
- 1 mediumripe tomato
- 1 slicestale white bread
- 1 tbspsherry vinegar
- 1 tspsmoked paprika
- 60 mlextra virgin olive oil
- to tastesalt
Method
- Toast the almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking the pan frequently, until they are golden and fragrant — about 4–5 minutes. Watch them carefully; they go from golden to burned in seconds. Set aside.
- In the same skillet, add a teaspoon of olive oil and fry the bread slice on both sides until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes. Remove. Add the whole garlic cloves (unpeeled) and the tomato (halved) to the skillet, cut side down. Cook until the garlic softens and the tomato chars slightly, about 4–5 minutes. Peel the garlic when cool enough to handle.
- Combine the roasted peppers, toasted almonds, fried bread (torn into pieces), garlic, tomato (skin removed), smoked paprika, sherry vinegar, and salt in a food processor or mortar.
- Pulse or pound until you have a thick, rough paste — not a smooth purée. Traditional romesco has visible texture from the almonds and bread. With the motor running (or while pounding), drizzle in the olive oil gradually until the sauce comes together. It should be thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon.
- Taste and adjust: it might need more vinegar for sharpness, more salt, or a pinch of cayenne for heat. Transfer to a jar. Romesco keeps refrigerated for up to a week and actually improves after a day as the flavors meld.
FAQ
Ñora (nyora) peppers are small, round, dried Catalan peppers with a sweet, mildly smoky flavor and almost no heat. They are the traditional base of romesco and give it a deeper, more complex taste than regular roasted red peppers. If you can find them, soak two ñoras in hot water for 30 minutes, then scrape out the soft inner flesh and discard the tough skin and seeds. If you can't find them — and most people outside Spain can't — roasted red peppers (jarred or fresh-roasted) with a teaspoon of smoked paprika produce a very close result.
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Comments (1)
The consistency of this romesco sauce is the difference between good and great. Too thick and it doesn't spread; too thin and it slides off. I add the liquid a tablespoon at a time until it coats the back of a spoon.