Romesco Sauce

Romesco sauce is a Spanish sauce made from roasted red peppers, almonds, garlic and olive oil. It is a lovely bright orange color and is the perfect compliment to seafood, meatballs made from good Spanish sausage or roasted meats.

Sometimes you see it with tomatoes mixed in but I think they over power the sweet, peppery flavor. It does need some acidity though, so I use a bit of vinegar.

Look for roasted piquillo peppers. If you can’t find them, regular roasted red bell peppers will work.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1 small clove garlic

2 small or 1 large piece of slightly stale bread white bread

1 large jar roasted piquillo peppers in water, about 2 cups

1 Tbs red wine vinegar

1/4 – 1/3 cup olive oil

salt

pepper

Instructions:

In a food processor, grind almonds into very fine, moist crumbs.

Add garlic and pulse a few times. Add bread and process into fine crumbs.

Add peppers and vinegar and pulse until smooth. Drizzle olive oil in while blade is turning. Add olive oil until the sauce reaches the desired consistency – 1/4 cup for a tighter sauce, 1/3 cup for a looser sauce.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

I used this batch of sauce as a bed for cod poached in olive oil, lemon, garlic and fresh basil. However, Romesco sauce is extremely versatile. You can smear it on toasted slices of baguette as a bruschetta or thin it with a bit of stock for a hearty roasted pepper soup.