Tag: sauce

Salsa Romesco with Grilled Vegetables

I looked at several romesco sauce recipes, and no two were the same. I finally settled on this recipe with some minor adjustments.

  • 1 1-inch thick slice of crusty bread, crust removed and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1 large tomato
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 cup almonds
  • 2 medium red bell peppers
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil. Place almond, garlic, bread and tomato on baking sheet and place in the oven. Roast almonds until fragrant and bread is crusty and just starting to brown, about 10 minutes. Remove almonds and bread and continue roasting garlic until soft and tomato until tender, about 20 minutes more. Remove from oven, let cool slightly and remove skin from tomato and peel garlic.
  2. While other ingredients are roasting in the oven, roast peppers over an open flame on a gas stove or grill until the skins are blackened. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let sit until cool enough to handle, about 20 minutes. Remove charred skin, seeds, and cores.
  3. Place bread, tomato, almonds, peppers, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor. Purée until smooth. Taste and season with additional salt and cayenne pepper as needed.
  4. Place in and airtight container and place in the refrigerator until cool. Store refrigerated up to 5 days

I used three roma tomatoes instead of the one large tomato called for in the Serious Eats recipe. I also used lemon juice in place of the vinegar (because vinegar is the devil), and chipotle chili powder instead of cayenne. I couldn’t see the sense in buying crusty bread, cutting the crust off, and toasting it so it basically has a crust again, so I just left the crust on.

I toasted/roasted everything on the gas grill instead of in the oven, and grilled up some carrots, zucchini, and romanesco broccoli to serve with the sauce. It ended up a little thicker than I wanted, so I added a bit more olive oil and a little water to thin it down. The romesco was smoky and delicious, and the leftovers were used up quickly as a spread for sandwiches and a dip for chips and crackers.