ROMESCO SAUCE

 ROMESCO SAUCE

Have you ever made it? The Americanized version uses red bell peppers but that is not how it's supposed to be. You can do that of course but you aren't going to get the real deal and there is a huge difference in taste. Romesco was originally devised to be used on fish, grilled fish, but its usage has widened to other foods, including chicken and steak. It is more broadly used when Calçot onions are available. They are similar to scallions but the white part is much larger. They are eaten grilled with Romesco sauce. You can grill other vegetables as well. Instead of red bell peppers chilis are used. The traditional ones are the small Nõra chilies. I couldn't find them so the Ancho is what is recommended and what I used. There are several steps to make this and well worth doing.

5-6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
3 large ripe tomatoes, cored, halved horizontally, seeded
3 Ancho chilies, stems and seeds removed
½ cup red wine or sherry vinegar
5 tablespoons (2 ounces) or 36 blanched almonds and/or hazelnuts, lightly toasted
2 slices crusty bread, crust removed, broken in pieces
6 tablespoons (¾ cup) extra virgin olive oil
1-¾ teaspoons salt

Place the garlic and tomatoes, skin side up, on a foil covered sheet pan. Broil 4-5 inches from the heat. Turn over when charred and well roasted. Place in a bowl, then cover with a towel or plastic wrap.

Put the vinegar and a ¼ cup of water into a saucepan with the Ancho chilies and bring to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes to soften the chilies. Remove from the heat and let sit another 5 minutes covered. When cool remove them and scrape the soft inner meat off leaving the skins. Save the liquid. Use the back side of a knife to do this scraping.  It is a little bit of a delicate operation.Save the paste. Discard the skins.

Toast the bread slices with the blanched almonds in a cast iron pan over medium heat. When toasted, remove and grind to a powder using a mortar and pestle or a blender.

Peel the garlic. Remove the skins from the tomatoes. After steaming they will come off easily.

Put everything into a blender or food processor: the Ancho chili paste, tomatoes, garlic, ground almonds, vinegar, oil, and salt. Process to a puree. 

Taste to see if you want to add more salt. It will be slightly vinegary but an hour or so in the refrigerator will mellow the flavors and bring them together. It needs that resting time. Serve it chilled or room temperature.