Romesco Sauce Food

CHEF JOHN'S ROMESCO SAUCE

Steps:

• Turn on a gas stove and roast bell peppers over the open flame until soft and blackened, about 5 minutes per side. Peppers should emit steam when pressed. Transfer peppers to a bowl, cover, and let cool to room temperature.
• Combine oil and garlic in a skillet. Turn heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until garlic just starts to turn golden brown, about 3 minutes. Move garlic to a ramekin using a slotted spoon, leaving all the oil in the skillet.
• Toast bread in the oil until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Peel peppers under running water. Cut peppers open and remove the seeds. Chop into cubes and transfer to a food processor. Add garlic, bread cubes with oil, almonds, vinegar, paprika, cayenne, and salt. Pulse on and off until sauce is well combined and reaches your desired texture.
• Transfer sauce to a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate to intensify the flavors, 8 hours to overnight.

ROMESCO SAUCE

Steps:

• Heat 1/3 cup olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup each skinned hazelnuts and roasted almonds, 1 cup crusty bread cubes, 2 sliced garlic cloves and 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes; cook until golden, 3 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and add 1 canned peeled whole tomato, 1/4 cup jarred piquillo peppers and 1/2 to 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar; pulse until mostly smooth, thinning with up to 1/3 cup water if needed. Season with salt and red pepper flakes.

ROMESCO SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the broiler and cover a baking sheet with foil. Place the tomatoes on the baking sheet, and place under the broiler at the highest setting. Broil for two to four minutes, until charred on one side. Turn over and broil on the other side for two to four minutes until charred. Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl and allow to cool. Peel and core.
• Turn on a food processor fitted with the steel blade and drop in the garlic cloves. When the garlic is chopped and adheres to the sides of the bowl, stop the machine and scrape down the sides. Add the toasted almonds (or almonds and hazelnuts), bread and chile powder or flakes to the bowl and process to a paste.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the pepper, tomatoes, parsley, paprika, salt and pepper. Process until smooth, and with the machine running, add the vinegar and olive oil in a slow stream, beginning with the smaller amount of olive oil and thinning out as desired. Process until well amalgamated, then scrape into a bowl.
• Taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt or chile as desired. If possible, allow the sauce to stand for an hour at room temperature before using. Serve with fish and/or grilled vegetables, or on crostini.

ROMESCO SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, soak the bread cubes in the vinegar for 20 minutes. Toast the almonds for 10 to 15 minutes, watching closely. Cool the almonds completely, then grind them in a mortar and pestle or food processor until they are finely ground but not oily. Add the vinegar soaked bread, tomatoes, paprika, salt and pepper to the processor and grind together briefly until evenly pureed. With the motor running, add the olive oil in a thin stream.

ROMESCO SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
• Place the tomatoes, bell pepper, and garlic cloves onto the prepared baking sheet. Brush the vegetables with some of the olive oil, then sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake in the preheated oven until the garlic has turned golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for 10 minutes. While the vegetables are cooling, bake the bread slice on one of the oven racks until golden brown. Remove and allow to cool.
• Scrape the vegetables and any juices from the pan into a food processor or blender. Break the bread into pieces, and add to the food processor along with the toasted almonds, vinegar, paprika, and red pepper flakes. Puree until finely ground, then drizzle in the remaining olive oil with the machine running. Season to taste with additional salt if necessary.

PRAWNS WITH ROMESCO SAUCE

Steps:

• Prepare ahead - halve the pepper lengthways and remove the seeds and stalk. Line a grill pan with foil and put the pepper halves, skin side up, on the grill pan with the whole garlic cloves, chilli and tomato. Grill for 2 minutes, turn the tomato, then grill for a further 2 minutes. Remove the tomato with a large spoon, then peel, quarter and remove the seeds. Then chop the tomato roughly.
• Continue grilling the pepper, chilli and garlic for 4-5 minutes, until the pepper and chilli skins have blackened and the garlic is starting to soften (the garlic skin will start to split when it is ready). When cool enough to handle, peel and halve the chilli, and scrape out and discard the seeds. Peel the pepper and roughly chop both the pepper and chilli.
• Spread nuts over the foil and grill until toasted. Finely chop the nuts and parsley in a food processor. Tip into a small bowl.
• Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan, add the pepper, garlic and chilli and fry for 3 minutes. Tear up the bread and add to the pan, turning it in the oil until lightly browned. Pulse in food processor with the tomatoes, salt, vinegar and oil until roughly chopped. Tip into a bowl. Leave to cool and store in fridge for up to 3 days.
• On the day add the nuts and parsley to the sauce and mix. Serve in a small bowl on a plate with the peeled prawns. Supply cocktail sticks for spearing the prawns.

ROMESCO SAUCE

Steps:

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Line a small baking pan with foil.
• Roast tomato in pan until tender and skin peels off easily, about 30 minutes.
• While tomato is roasting, slit chile open lengthwise and discard stem and seeds, then tear chile into small pieces. Heat oil in an 8- to 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then add chile and cook, stirring, until fragrant and chile turns a brighter red, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer chile with a slotted spoon to a heatproof bowl. Add hazelnuts to skillet along with almonds, bread, garlic, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until bread and garlic are golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Add mixture (including oil) to chile in bowl and cool slightly.
• Peel tomato, then coarsely chop and transfer (with juices) to a food processor. Add bread and chile mixture, pimientos, water, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and purée until smooth. Thin with water if desired and season with salt.

ROMESCO SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Put the garlic, almonds, tomatoes, and pepper on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes. The veggies should be soft.
• Peel and seed the tomatoes (honestly, I don't bother to peel them -- I'm a little lazy that way).
• Peel the garlic.
• Put the roasted ingredients in a blender or food processor and grind thoroughly.
• Add the vinegar and salt.
• While the food processor is still running, gradually trickle in the oil until the sauce thickens.

ROMESCO SAUCE

Steps:

• Pulse first 8 ingredients in a food processor until very finely chopped. With motor running, slowly add oil; process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD: Romesco can be made 1 week ahead. Cover and chill.

ROMESCO SAUCE

Steps:

• Toast the almonds in a dry frying pan for 3-4 mins until starting to turn golden and smelling toasted. Shake the pan often to turn them. Tip out and leave to cool.
• Drain the red peppers and tip into a food processor with the almonds, garlic, vinegar and smoked paprika, then blitz to a chunky paste.
• With the motor still on, slowly drizzle in the olive oil to make a dip. A bit of texture works well for this rather than blending to a super smooth consistency. Season well, adding a little more vinegar, if you like.