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bowl of romesco sauce with nuts to side and onions behind
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5 from 2 votes

Romesco sauce

Traditionally served with calcots, romesco is a deliciously flavorful sauce great with grilled meats and vegetables.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time1 hour 15 minutes
Course: Condiment
Cuisine: Spanish (Catalan)
Servings: 12 approx, depending how used - makes approx 1 ½ cup
Calories: 110kcal
Author: Caroline's Cooking
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Ingredients

  • 2 tomatoes large, 3 if smaller
  • 6 cloves garlic ½ head, left joined together (see notes)
  • red pepper a little more if small (optional)
  • 1 dried nora pepper large, or a dried ancho/California chili
  • ¼ cup blanched almonds
  • ¼ cup hazelnuts
  • 1 slice bread eg sourdough stale, hard crusts removed and cut into chunks (1 slice is approx 1oz/30g)
  • 5 ½ tablespoon olive oil divided
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • ¼ teaspoon salt approx, to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Remove the outer skin from the garlic but leave the garlic on the bulb stem in their individual skins. Trim the very top off the cloves of garlic and add the bulb to a small roasting dish, along with the chunk of red pepper. Cut the tomatoes in half through the middle and add to the roasting dish. Drizzle oil (around ½ tbsp) over all of them, along with a little salt, then roast in the preheated oven.
  • Remove the garlic and pepper after around 40-45 minutes when the pepper is softened and the tops of the garlic are browning. The cloves inside should feel soft. Return the dish with the tomatoes to the oven and cook for around another 15 minutes (around 1 hour total). Remove and allow to cool.
  • As the tomatoes are cooking and/or cooling, prepare everything else. Pull the top off the dried pepper/chili, tip out the seeds and place in a small bowl. Cover with boiling water and allow to soak around 10 minutes. Press the pepper down with a spoon if it floats out of the water.
  • In a dry skillet/frying pan over a medium heat, gently toast the almonds and hazelnuts until starting to color slightly on both sides. Remove the nuts from the pan and set aside.
  • In the same pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Break the stale bread into chunks and add to the pan. Cook on both sides until gently golden then remove from the heat.
  • Once the tomatoes have cooled, slide the skins off the outside and place the flesh in a food processor. Remove the skin from the pepper and add to the food processor. Squeeze the roasted garlic from the skins and add this as well.
  • Add the vinegar, lemon juice, toasted bread, almonds and remaining 4tbsp (¼ cup, 60ml) olive oil. If the hazelnuts had skins on them, rub them in a dish towel to remove the skins then add these too.
  • Remove the nora pepper from the water, open it up and scrape out the inside, leaving the skin behind. Add this paste to the food processor. Blend everything together to form a relatively smooth sauce.

Video

Notes

I tend to roast a whole bulb of garlic for this and use what I need then keep the rest for another use. Alternatively, you can just break off other cloves to use for something else and use the half bulb on the stem for this. Being on the stem is better, if possible, as it helps them cook more evenly. 

Nutrition

Calories: 110kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 78mg | Potassium: 102mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 242IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg