romesco sauce

Who doesn’t love romesco sauce? If you aren’t familiar, it’s a Spanish dish, containing roasted bell peppers and tomatoes, nuts, vinegar, garlic, and seasonings. Some versions even add in bread as a thickener (mine doesn’t though- I prefer it less heavy and more fresh tasting).

It can be served warm or cold, and is excellent slathered over crusty bread, a top of white fish, or as a dip for fries, or fried vegetables.

Ingredients:

3 roasted red bell peppers

3/4 cup marcona almonds

2 cloves of garlic

1 Tbsp champagne vinegar

1/8 cup evoo

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pepper

2 small heirloom tomatoes, halved

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 1/2 tsp dried italian parsley

Directions:

Preheat oven to broil.

Place tomatoes on sheet pan layered with tin foil. Place pan on top shelf of oven. Place bell peppers directly on the oven rack. Broil for 10 minutes.

Remove tomatoes from oven, and peel skin.

Turn bell peppers. Broil 5 more minutes. Turn bell peppers. Broil 5 more minutes. Turn bell peppers a final time and broil for an additional 5 minutes. Peppers should be blackened.

Remove from oven and place in a paper bag. Roll top down. The bag will cause peppers to steam and loosen their skin. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Rinse peppers under cold water, wiping away skin, and pulling out stem and removing seeds.

Place prepared peppers and tomatoes in a blender. Add the rest of the ingredients. Purée until combined and almonds have been mostly broken down (you still want them to have a little bite— this is not a smooth purée).

Refrigerate until ready to use.