This is not a ‘self sufficient’ tip. This is just a really simple way to make Romesco Sauce. But if you’re planning to be self sufficient in the garden and are going to replant your sprouting onions you need to know how to make a great Romesco!
It is a great sauce to eat with grilled scallions / calçots. Heck its lovely with grilled meat, fish or veggies. It is lovely warm, hot or cold. It is a great way to use up stale bread and all those chillies and peppers good growers will have dried in the autumn. It is, in fact, just a great and simple sauce.
More complicated recipes may call for roasting and peeling vegetables. But this is a no-hassle way to produce a great result.
Simple Romesco Sauce Recipe
Romesco Ingredients
- 4 dried chilies (3 mild and 1 hot variety).
- 25g almonds / hazelnuts
- 150ml olive oil
- 1 slice stale bread (crusts removed)
- 3 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
- 3 tomatoes (roughly chopped)
- 120ml wine vinegar (red or white)
- salt & ground black pepper
How to Make Romesco Sauce
Cut the chillies and remove the seeds, then soak for half an hour in a bowl of warm water so they can rehydrate.
While the chillies are soaking, dry fry the nuts until golden.
Next fry the garlic and slice of bread, until golden, in a tablespoon of olive oil.
Put the garlic, bread, chili’s and tomatoes into a blender or food processor and blend till smooth. Or just mash up manually with a pestle and mortar. Continue mixing as you slowly add the oil, followed by the vinegar.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cover the sauce and store in the refrigerator for a few hours to allow the flavours to infuse.
Romesco is the sauce to use up dried chili peppers. A few spoons added to tomato based pasta sauces will give them a real kick and an element of zing from the vinegar.
For a more self sufficient future