Romesco Sauce (Catalonian)

Romesco is a tomato-based sauce from Catalonia that's delicious served over grilled vegetables and baked potatoes, or as a dipping sauce for roasted artichokes, bread or the famous Catalán spring onion called calçots. An authentic Spanish romesco sauce is a thick sauce made from a base of roasted tomatoes and garlic. To this base you add toasted almonds and hazelnuts (most recipes use both, not just almonds), ñora pepper, sherry vinegar, stale toasted bread and a copious amount of olive oil. Like any Spanish recipe, every cook will prepare their romesco sauce differently. This usually means varying the proportions of the above mentioned basic ingredients. Furthermore, some recipes call for a very small amount of a mildly spicy chili pepper called guindilla (or bitxo in Catalán) and/or a touch of smoked paprika. Ñora peppers are an essential ingredient in Spanish romesco sauce. They are not at all like bell peppers (although they do have a bell-like shape). They are smaller than the tomatoes, and dried.

3 medium tomatoes
1 head garlic, (optional: an additional raw clove)
2 ñora peppers, (can sub cascabel or ancho peppers)
1 slice stale crusty bread, (about 25 g/0.89 oz)
1¼ oz raw peeled hazelnuts (35 g)
1¼ oz raw peeled almonds (35 g)
¾ tsp. sea salt
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4).

Cut a cross in the bottom of each tomato and place them cut side up along with the whole head of garlic on a baking pan (if you are using a slice of red bell pepper in place of the ñora, roast it here as well). Drizzle everything with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Roast the garlic for about 45 minutes, or until tender, then remove so that it does not burn. Continue roasting the tomatoes until the skin is beginning to blacken in spots - about 60 minutes.

Meanwhile rehydrate the ñora peppers by placing them in a bowl of hot water. (You can also place them in a bowl of water the night before). Set aside to soften while the tomatoes roast.

Toast the bread and the nuts. You can do this either by placing them in an oven-safe pan in the oven with the tomatoes for five minutes or so, or in a pan over medium heat on the stove.

When the tomatoes are roasted, remove the pan and let them cool. Prepare the ñora by cutting them open and discarding the stem and seeds. Use a spoon to scrape the pulp away from the skin and discard the skin. I ended up with about 1 tablespoon of pulp from 2 ñora peppers.

Put the vinegar in a bowl and wet the bread in the vinegar.

Once the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin. Also pop all the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins (peel the red bell pepper if you're using it). Transfer the peeled tomatoes and garlic to a blender or food processor and add the salt.

Begin blending and slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Once it's emulsified add the toasted bread and vinegar, ñora pulp and the raw clove of garlic if you are using it (it's optional).

Finally add the nuts and blend a bit more. Romesco sauce should be a bit grainy so do not over blend, a bit of bite is good. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Romesco sauce should be a bit tangy. If would like a thicker sauce, add more bread. For a thinner sauce, add more olive oil.