Romenesco Sauce

Name: Romenesco Sauce
Ingredients: 250 gm ripe tomatoes, peeled and cored; 2 red peppers; 1 red chilli, seeded; 80 ml olive oil; 30 ml (2 tablespoons) roasted hazelnuts, skins rubbed off; 30 ml (2 tablespoons) blanched almonds; 2 large cloves of garlic; 1 thick slice of country bread, cut into cubes; pinch of hot, red pepper flakes; 30 ml (2 tablespoons) water; 15 ml (1 tablespoon) red wine vinegar; salt to taste

This Catalan sauce has many variations. I add hazelnuts as well as almonds to round out the flavour. The sauce keeps in the refrigerator of a week and tastes great with grilled meat or fish.

Published 12 February 2025

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 ?C. Line a small oven tray with aluminium foil.
Roast the red peppers until starting to blister. Remove from the oven and place in a plastic bag. Set aside to cool down, and then peel off the blistered skin and remove the seeds. Set aside.
At the same time as the peppers are roasting, roast the tomatoes in the oven for 30 minutes.
Heat the oil over moderate heat and add the chilli for about 1 minute. Remove the chilli from the oil and set aside.
Add the hazelnuts, almonds, garlic, bread and red pepper flakes to the oil in the frying pan. Cook, stirring, until the bread and garlic are golden. Remove from the heat and add together with the oil to the chilli. Cool slightly.
Transfer the tomatoes with all the juices to a food processor. Add the roasted peppers and the bread mixture to the tomatoes in the food processor with the water and the red wine vinegar. Puree until smooth. Add salt to taste.
Spoon the sauce into a container, cover and refrigerate until needed. Serve at room temperature.