Romesco sauce is delicious and versatile sauce that originates from the Catalonia region of Spain and is a staple of Spanish cuisine. It is a very easy sauce to make by blending roasted red peppers, tomatoes, almonds, olive oil and some spices. The result is a rich, nutty, and slightly smoky sauce that is perfect for adding flavour to a wide range of dishes.
One of the great things about Romesco sauce is its versatility. It can be served as a sauce with multiple dishes including grilled meats, fish, seafood and also in vegetarian dishes. In the two pictures below, you can see how I recently served Romesco sauce: one with grilled octopus and the other with fire-roasted leeks.
As you can see from the images above, the Romesco sauce used in the two dishes are slightly different. The first dish uses the classic version of Romesco sauce. In the second dish, I used a mixture of yellow and red peppers and left the peppers to be slightly chunky. I did this because I wanted to serve the sauce in the middle of the octopus and I wanted the yellow and red colours to contrast.
The above are just two simple example for how to serve Romesco sauce. Here are few more ways I’ve used Romesco sauce in the past:
- Spread on toast with a poached egg on top
- As dip with some flat bread
- Stirred into pasta for a quick, easy meal
As you can see in the recipe below, Romesco sauce is very easy to make. The only thing that you need to ensure is that you use quality ingredients. All the ingredients contribute significant flavour to the dish, but the most important ingredients are the red peppers, the olive oil and the almonds. Make sure that you use the freshest produce you can find to get the best result. You can of course make substitutes, like for example using jarred roasted red peppers, but the result will not be the same.
Another great thing about Romesco sauce is that it can be prepared in advance as it stores very well in the fridge. So if you are preparing for a party, make the sauce a couple of days in advance and then take it out of the fridge an hour or two before serving. If freezing, store it in a glass container to avoid the sauce getting an undesirable subtle taste from a plastic container.
Possible variations to the classic recipe
Recipes are just guides; sometimes its important to be creative and adapt recipes to better suit your applications or circumstances!
Almonds
The original recipe uses roasted almonds. But a delicious sauce can be also done using other nuts such as walnuts, pine nuts or hazelnuts. One thing to keep in mind when using different nuts is that the amount used might vary. For example walnuts are more oily than almonds and so tend to break down into finer pastes. If using the same amount of walnuts instead of almonds, the sauce might be slightly thinner.
Texture
Originally Romesco sauce used to be made in a pestle and mortar and the ingredients were ground into a very fine puree. These days it is usually done in a blender which is faster and more convenient. Using a blender, one can get different textures varying for a thick paste to a thinner runny sauce, depending on how long the ingredients are blended.
One way to vary the texture of the sauce (as shown in the picture above) is to finely dice half of the peppers using a knife instead of blending all of them. This results in a chunky sauce. I find this works well if you want the sauce to have more body so you can serve it as a quenelle for example.
Romesco Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 Large red peppers
- 50 grams Roasted almonds ideally without the skin
- 2 Large sun dried tomatoes
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 50 ml Olive oil
- 1 tsp Smoked paprika
- 1 tsp Red sherry vinegar (optional)
- A few basil leaves
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash the red peppers and place them in a dish under the broiler until the flesh softens and the outer skin burns and turns black. It is important to turn the peppers midway through, so that they cook evenly on all sides.
- While the peppers are broiling, pour the olive oil in a small pot or pan, add the peeled garlic cloves and place on low to medium heat. Roast the garlic for a few minutes until they soften and turn slightly golden. As soon as the garlic is cooked, spoon them out of the oil to prevent them from burning.
- When the peppers are done, place them in a bowl, cover them with foil and let them rest for about 5 minutes. This will help them steam up and make them easier to peel.
- Peel the black outer skin from the peppers, remove the seeds and place them in a blender.
- Add all the ingredients (including the olive oil used for roasting the garlic) apart from the vinegar and salt and pepper to the blender and blend until the desired consistency is achieved.
- One the ingredients are blended, taste the sauce to understand the seasoning required. If you want to make the sauce tangy, add the vinegar. It is very likely that you'll need to add the whole teaspoon of vinegar, but feel free to add more or less depending on your taste. Also season with salt and pepper.
- Scoop it out of the blender and place in a bowl. You can serve the sauce immediately or you can leave it in the fridge for a few days. I find that the sauce tastes better if left to rest in the fridge for at least a few hours!