See Also: Cooking Club · Dressings and Dips · Spain
Catalonian Romesco
From Dorothy McNett's recipes at www.dorothymcnett.com. Use this great sauce as a dip for fresh vegetables, or as a pasta sauce or meat sauce, especially with meatballs.
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup hazelnuts
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil for toasting the nuts
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5-6 cloves garlic, cut in half
1 poblano or anaheim pepper, roughly chopped
1 slice bread, white or whole grain
3-4 medium tomatoes, cut in half
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon Spanish paprika (smoked if desired)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
fresh carrots, celery, green beans, etc to dip into the sauce
or serve over cooked pasta
or serve with cooked meatballs or steak
Combine nuts and the 1 teaspoon olive oil in a glass or ceramic batter bowl or 4 cup measuring cup. Cook in microwave 1 minute. Stir. Cook another 1 minute. Stir. They should be starting to brown a bit, and some may start to sizzle. If not, cook another 1 minute and stir. Allow to stand to cool. (or toast the nuts in a pan on the burner for about 5 minutes)
In heavy bottomed skillet or saute pan, heat the 4 tablespoons olive oil and then add the garlic and pepper. Cook and stir over medium heat several minutes to cook but not to brown. Scoop out the vegetables from the pan into a bowl and set it aside. Reheat the pan, adding a bit more oil if necessary. Cut the bread into quarters and place in the hot skillet to fry the pieces until they are light golden brown. Add to the vegetables. You can finely chop all of the ingredients and blend together to make a sauce, or use your food processor for best results. With the steel chopping blade in place, first whirl the nuts to a fine consistency. Add the garlic, pepper and bread and process well. Add the tomatoes, salt, paprika and vinegar. Blend well. Taste the sauce, adjusting if needed by adding a bit more salt, paprika or vinegar. Sometimes a pinch of sugar is needed to bring all of the flavors together. Serve as a dip with vegetables, or use as a pasta sauce or meat sauce.
Recipe created 2012-09-03.
