Spicy Romesco Sauce
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 25 – 30 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Serves: 4 – 6
The sauce you didn’t know you knew you had to have in your repertoire of sauces. This is one for the recipe box (or your recipe app). It’s super-easy to make and can go with many dishes as a condiment, a dip, or as a bed of comforting goodness. I suppose it’s pretty obvious which one I prefer.
Romesco Sauce does not usually have any heat to it. The traditional peppers in the sauce are red bell peppers which are a big zero on the Scoville scale. Total safety zone for people who are opposed to heat. But, for those of you like-minded readers, let’s bring on the spicy chiles and turn up the heat!
As previously stated, this sauce can be deliciously used as a bed under veggies or proteins such as salmon, shrimp, chicken, steak, and on and on. Check out my Chili Roasted Cauliflower Over Spicy Romesco Sauce… a head of cauliflower rubbed with chili powders and oven-roasted, served over the best sauce!
You will need a blender. An immersion blender will be ok, but the convenience is definitely in a traditional electric blender.
Here’s a tidbit of history from my cauliflower recipe…
Looking into the origin of this sauce, of course, there were conflicting dates; however, a couple of things were consistent…it was developed by fishermen to use as a condiment to serve with meals they prepared with their catch off the coast of Catalonia, Spain. Talk about “fresh catch of the day.”
Enjoy!
Spicy Romesco Sauce
Equipment
- Blender or immersion blender
Ingredients
- 3 chipotle/Morita dried chiles
- 1/2 cup very hot water
- 1/2 cup raw almonds
- 2 large red bell peppers, or 1 1/2 cups (8oz) from a jar of roasted red peppers
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 cup Italian parsley leaves, loosely packed
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika, hot or sweet
- 4 - 5 tablespoons red wine vinegar, to taste
- 1/2 - 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, optional for heat
- 1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional for heat
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or an infused olive oil, more if needed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste (adjust amount for fine sea salt)
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper, or to taste
Instructions
- In a dry pan/skillet over medium-high heat, toast the chiles until they are very fragrant and you just begin to see a bit of smoke rising from the pan. Pull the pan off the heat and place the chiles in a small bowl or 1-cup glass measuring cup.
- Pour the hot water over the chiles. Allow them to sit at room temperature while you continue with the recipe. (I will use a spoon or a very small bowl to submerge the chiles.)
- Preheat the oven to high broil. Set the top rack about 6” below the coils. Line a small, rimmed baking sheet with foil, or you can use a small baking dish, like an 8x8”.
- Place the peppers on the baking sheet and broil for 2 to 4 minutes, or until the tops are charred. Using tongs, carefully rotate the peppers and continue to char until blackened all over. Your oven will be very hot. Be careful.
- Once both peppers are blackened all over, remove the pan from the oven. Carefully wrap the foil from the baking sheet around the peppers and allow them to sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Turn the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Unwrap the foil and allow the peppers to cool until you can handle them and pull the charred skin off, discarding the skin. Open the peppers and remove the seeds and stems and discard. (See Notes on making the peppers in advance.) Place the peppers in a blender.
- Place the almonds on the same baking sheet you used for the peppers. You may line it with parchment paper, or just use the clean baking sheet.
- Toast the almonds for 8 minutes. Stir and toast again for 5 to 6 minutes, or until they are very fragrant and lightly browned. (Don’t over-brown them or they will be bitter-tasting.) Pour them onto a clean plate or cutting board to cool.
- Your chiles should be nicely pliable by now. Using clean kitchen scissors or your hands (disposable gloves help here!), cut open the chiles, remove the seeds and stems and discard. Place the chiles in the blender with the peppers. Strain the chile’s liquid through cheesecloth to remove any grit that may be left in the bowl. Set the liquid aside; do not discard it.
- Add the garlic, tomato paste, parsley, paprika, red wine vinegar, cayenne and red pepper flakes if using, and the oil to the blender.
- Add the cooled almonds.
- Puree the mixture until it is the consistency you prefer, adding small amounts of either the strained chile liquid or more oil, or a combination of both, as needed for the sauce to be able to flow in the blender. Some prefer a very smooth velvety sauce, others prefer some texture. You will be stopping and scraping often. A silicone spatula is helpful here.
- Serve as a condiment, dip, or under your main protein/veggie.
Notes
The chiles can be reconstituted up to 2 days in advance. Do not discard the liquid.
The almonds can be toasted, cooled, and kept in an airtight container for up to 2 days. The sauce can be pureed with an immersion blender, but be careful to not incorporate too much air. You don’t want a mousse. Jarred roasted red peppers will contain salt, citric acid, and maybe some other ingredients to preserve them. You may have to adjust your salt if you use a jar.
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