Spanish Romesco Sauce

Spanish Romesco Sauce is a vibrant condiment from Catalonia in northeastern Spain. Roasted tomatoes and red bell peppers, toasted nuts and bread are pureed with roasted garlic, mild chili pepper, and vinegar to create a thick luxurious texture and a flavor-packed sauce that I want to put on everything.

It takes some effort to make Romesco Sauce, but it's so worth the fuss. I suggest you make a big batch. Romesco sauce will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge. This recipe is enough for a couple of dinners for four, with enough left over to spread on several sandwiches or burgers. 

How to make Spanish Romesco Sauce

• Start by toasting the hazelnuts, almonds, bread cubes and garlic in a 350ºF oven. While they're in the oven you can prepare the tomatoes and the ancho chile pepper.

• Unless you find skinned hazelnuts, you'll have to rub the skins off. It's easy to do. After roasting the hazelnuts, rub them through a dish towel, over a bowl, and the skins will come loose.

• Next sear the tomatoes. Use the ripest plum tomatoes you can find. Sear them in a heavy skillet in some olive oil until they get some black spots and the skins start to split. Once they're cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and slice them in half. 

• Prepare the Chilies: Ancho chilies are dried poblano peppers. They have a mild, sweet and fruity flavor. You can find dried ancho chiles at many grocery stores in the international food aisle, or you can order them online. 

• It's easy to reconstitute anchos with a short soak in hot water. For this recipe you'll sear them in a hot pan to enhance their flavor, then soak them in water for 15 minutes and then chop them roughly. 

• Once everything is roasted and seared and soaked, it all goes into the food processor: bread, nuts, garlic, tomatoes and chilies, plus a jar of roasted peppers, some red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil. 

• Whizz the mixture until it's roughly chopped. The texture can be modified by adding more olive oil or water.  I like it on the thick side - so it's almost spreadable.

Romesco Sauce is great on the simplest piece of grilled or roasted meat, chicken, fish or vegetables. It's got enough pizzazz to transform an ordinary dinner into a spectacular meal.

What To Serve with Romesco Sauce

If you're wondering what to serve with your homemade romesco sauce, I've got a recommendation: sheet pan Spanish spice-crusted pork tenderloin, potatoes and vegetables. It's a fantastic one pan dinner and romesco sauce is the perfect condiment to give it an added layer of deliciousness.

Here's the recipe for Spanish Romesco Sauce. If you make this recipe I hope you'll come back to leave a star rating and a comment. I'd love to know what you think!

Romesco Sauce

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5 from 1 review

• Author: Lisa Goldfinger
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: 1 ½ cups 1x

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Description

A vibrant sauce of roasted peppers, garlic and tomatoes, thickened with toasted bread and nuts. Delicious with meat, fish, chicken or vegetables. Great on Sandwiches and burgers.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Equipment: Rimmed baking pan lined with parchment, Food processor fitted with the s-shaped chopping blade

• 1 cup bread cubes from a thick slice of country bread or French baguette
• ½ cup blanched almonds (whole or slivered)
• ¼ cup hazelnuts (without skin)
• 4 large garlic cloves, peeled
• Olive oil
• 3 ripe plum tomatoes or other ripe tomatoes
• 1 dried ancho chili, sliced in half, seeds and stem removed
• 1 ½ cups roasted red bell peppers roughly chopped, homemade or from a 12-ounce jar.
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ⅓ cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Line a rimmed baking pan with parchment. Place hazelnuts, almonds, bread cubes, and garlic cloves on parchment and roast for 12 minutes or until the nuts, bread and garlic are lightly toasted. Transfer toasted ingredients to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the s-shaped chopping blade. 
2. Heat a small heavy skillet over medium heat. Put the ancho chili into the hot pan and cook for 15-20 seconds per side, pressing down on it with a spatula, until you see some smoke and some blistered spots. (Don’t wash the skillet. You’ll need it for the tomatoes). Transfer the chili to a small bowl and cover by an inch with hot tap water. Leave for 15 minutes to soften and then chop roughly and add to the food processor bowl. 
3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in the skillet over medium high heat. When hot, sear the tomatoes on all sides, for about 7 minutes total, until they have some large black spots and the skins start to separate. Transfer them to a plate and when cool enough to handle, peel off their skins, slice them in half, and add them to the food processor along with the roasted red peppers, vinegar and salt. 
4. Whizz everything in your processor, scraping down the sides of the bowl when necessary, until the mixture is very finely chopped (not a smooth puree). With the motor running, slowly pour in the oil. If you want a thinner consistency, add a couple tablespoons of water with the motor running. 
5. Serve warm or at room temp as a dip with crostini or crudités or as a sauce to top grilled or roasted fish, chicken, beef, pork, roasted vegetables, sandwiches, burgers or omelets.
6. Romesco sauce can be stored for 2 weeks in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Notes

If you'd prefer to roast your own red bell peppers from scratch, here's how to do it.

What if your hazelnuts have skins? Toast the hazelnuts as per the directions but set them aside on the roasting pan. Drape a dish towel over a medium sized bowl, scoop the toasted hazelnuts into the dishtowel, fold it over the nuts and leave them for 10 minutes, then drop the nuts into the bowl. Through the dish towel, squeeze them and rub them against each other and down against the bowl vigorously for a couple of minutes, to remove most of the brown skins. It's ok of a small bit of skin remains.

• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Category: Sauce
• Method: stove top
• Cuisine: Spanish