I had never heard of romesco until I ate at Veggie Planet in Harvard Square and fell in love with their Portobello Redhead pizza. It features slices of portobello mushroom slathered in a delicious roasted red pepper/almond sauce - sauce I learned was romesco. Now, whenever I go there, I order the sauce by the cup with their bread, a method which has on several occasions enabled Taylor and me to put away an embarrassingly large quantity of this magic spread. Now that I no longer live in Cambridge, I thought I'd try my hand at making it. It was good but not great the first time, but this further modified batch was excellent.
The beauty of this sauce, in addition to its stellar flavor, is its diversity. It's amazing served over oven roasted portobello mushrooms, on shrimp, over pasta, or almost any way you might use tomato sauce. Also great with pita chips or toast. Or a spoon.
Romesco Sauce
6 servings
Ingredients
3 large bell peppers (all red or 1/2 red 1/2 yellow)
1.5 Tbsp olive oil
1.75 cups (15 oz) cherry tomatoes
7 cloves garlic
3/4 cup ground almonds (or 1 cup whole almonds)
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 chipotle pepper in adobo
Equipment
Knive and cutting board
Oven
Stovetop
Measuring cups and spoons
Baking sheet
Silpat or aluminum foil
Tongs or fork
Large saucepan
Silicone spatula
Blender/Food processor/Immersion blender*
Large bowl
*If you do not have a blender, food processor, or immersion blender, you could do a chunkier version of this if you use ground almonds and chop the roasted vegetables into very small pieces before mixing with the other ingredients. Whole almonds will probably not grind well in a blender, so be sure to use ground ones if you don't have a food processor or immersion blender.
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or foil.
2. Wash, de-stem, and de-seed the bell peppers, cutting them into halves or quarters if they are particularly large.
3. Place peppers on lined baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Use your hands to rub the olive oil into the peppers, lightly coating both sides.
4. Roast for 40 minutes, flipping pieces after 20 minutes, until skin is somewhat blackened and the peppers are very soft.
5. While the peppers are roasting, place tomatoes, garlic, (and whole almonds if you're using them) in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring vigilantly, until there are nice brown spots and nearly all the cherry tomatoes have popped (about 6-8 minutes).
6. Place roasted peppers, pan roasted tomatoes and garlic, ground or pan roasted almonds, red wine vinegar, red pepper flakes, and chipotle pepper in a food processor, blender, or large bowl with an immersion blender. Blend until desired consistency (I recommend until there are no large chunks, but it's not totally smooth).
7. Serve hot or cold over veggies, meat, or bread.
The beauty of this sauce, in addition to its stellar flavor, is its diversity. It's amazing served over oven roasted portobello mushrooms, on shrimp, over pasta, or almost any way you might use tomato sauce. Also great with pita chips or toast. Or a spoon.
Romesco Sauce
6 servings
Ingredients
3 large bell peppers (all red or 1/2 red 1/2 yellow)
1.5 Tbsp olive oil
1.75 cups (15 oz) cherry tomatoes
7 cloves garlic
3/4 cup ground almonds (or 1 cup whole almonds)
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 chipotle pepper in adobo
Equipment
Knive and cutting board
Oven
Stovetop
Measuring cups and spoons
Baking sheet
Silpat or aluminum foil
Tongs or fork
Large saucepan
Silicone spatula
Blender/Food processor/Immersion blender*
Large bowl
*If you do not have a blender, food processor, or immersion blender, you could do a chunkier version of this if you use ground almonds and chop the roasted vegetables into very small pieces before mixing with the other ingredients. Whole almonds will probably not grind well in a blender, so be sure to use ground ones if you don't have a food processor or immersion blender.
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or foil.
2. Wash, de-stem, and de-seed the bell peppers, cutting them into halves or quarters if they are particularly large.
3. Place peppers on lined baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Use your hands to rub the olive oil into the peppers, lightly coating both sides.
4. Roast for 40 minutes, flipping pieces after 20 minutes, until skin is somewhat blackened and the peppers are very soft.
5. While the peppers are roasting, place tomatoes, garlic, (and whole almonds if you're using them) in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring vigilantly, until there are nice brown spots and nearly all the cherry tomatoes have popped (about 6-8 minutes).
6. Place roasted peppers, pan roasted tomatoes and garlic, ground or pan roasted almonds, red wine vinegar, red pepper flakes, and chipotle pepper in a food processor, blender, or large bowl with an immersion blender. Blend until desired consistency (I recommend until there are no large chunks, but it's not totally smooth).
7. Serve hot or cold over veggies, meat, or bread.
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