Jan 31
The bases | Traditional Spanish Recipes
Romesco Sauce
Here you have the Queen of the Catalan Sauces: Romesco! It’s perfect for meat, fish, rice, pasta, potatoes, vegetables…. anything! This time of year is the right moment to prepare it because… It’s Calçots time!!! In case you wonder what a Calçot or Calçotada is, follow this link and find out about one of our culinary outdoor Catalan best treats.
I published this recipe some years ago, but guess what? I found Ferran Adrià’s Romesco sauce recipe and you deserve to have that, don’t you? This is the Romesco sauce they prepared at El Bulli Restaurant. Just in case you are interested in all the menus they had, this is the book you should have in your kitchen: La comida de la familia (Spanish Edition). Great easy recipes with Ferran Adrià’s guarantee!
I bet you can use Romesco Sauce to dip your chicken wings in during this Superbowl edition!!! Give it a try and maybe you like it :D. If the flavor of the vinegar stands out too much for you, reduce it a bit or pour some extra olive oil. I will soon be posting a recipe using this romesco sauce with fresh fish casserole.
This is how my calçots looked, last time I prepared them in tempura… so delicious!!!
Recipe
Ingredients to get 1,400 kilos: 115 grs of dry ñoras meat (this is the meat inside the dry pepper that has been hydrated and softened), 50 ml of jerez vinegar, 100 grs. of daily bread in slices, 115 toasted and peeled hazelnuts, 333 grs. of garlic, 830 grs. of ripe tomato, 400 ml of Olive oil (0,4º), salt to fit your taste and ground black pepper.
- Clean and wash the tomatoes, dry them and draw a cross in their bottoms with a knife. Place in the oven tray. Wrap the garlic heads inside kitchen foil and place in the tray too. Roast for 45 to 60 minutes in the oven at 200ºC.
- After the veggies are roasted, peel the tomatoes and place the meat inside a big bowl. Press the garlic cloves and pour their meat inside the bowl too.
- Get the ñoras meat inside the bowl too. First you have to rehydrate them with hot water for 1/2 hour. Cut and get the meat from inside with a teaspoon.
- Fry the hazelnuts in a sauce pan with a bit of olive oil and when they start smelling, place inside the bowl. In that same sauce pan fry the bread and place inside the bowl.
- Pour the vinegar inside too and blend all ingredients together. The sauce should not be extra blended, you should be able to find little pieces of the hazelnuts inside.
- Pour the olive oil in the bowl, little by little and using a rubber spatula to mix it all. Sprinkle with salt and black ground pepper.
- Enjoy!!!
Comments
Darling…I have yet to try a Romeseco sauce as there are so many varieties but I’ll bookmark yours to try first.
I have made a version of Romesco sauce with what we have available to us here in Canada. I would like to get my hands on some of the nora peppers available in Spain for a truly authentic sauce. Looks like a trip to Spain is a necessity.
Hola Nuria – I hope all is well with you and your family.
Romesco is a wonderful accompaniment to EVERYTHING!
Val, I’ll be here with my arms wide open!!! However, if you really cannot wait, I am offering to send over the ñoras and whatever else you might need :D
Hola Joan. Yes we are fine. Hope all is well with your family too :D. I completely agree with the EVERYTHING ;D
I just love the texture of this sauce !
I don”t see calcots (I don’t have the right keyboard – sorry) here. But I can still make the Romesco! It might be time to visit Andorra… for some Catalan food!
Hi Nuria, I am going to post a salsa Romesco recipe on my blog and checked your post to see what you did. We had a few versions of Romesco while we were in Spain, including when we went out to that wonderful dinner with you. I found that there was a big difference between the Romesco that was completely blended in a blender and those that were not. I much much prefer it with texture like you show here. That’s how they served it at the restaurant you recommended, Set Portes. It was a perfect Romesco for my taste. I don’t have the right pepper at the moment so I will use paprika instead. Not quite the same, but still, good.