Romesco Sauce Recipe (Salsa Romesco)
Salsa romesco makes everything better! Add this traditional Catalan romeso sauce made of tomatoes, peppers, and almonds to grilled meats and fish as well as vegetables.
Servings Prep Time
2cups 10minutes
Cook Time
30minutes
Servings Prep Time
2cups 10minutes
Cook Time
30minutes
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Prepare the nora peppers the night before by submerging them in room-temperature water and leaving them to re-hydrate.
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a baking tray with foil. Core and halve the tomatoes and place them on the tray, cut side down, along with half of the head of garlic, drizzled with olive oil. Roast in the oven for an hour, or until the tomatoes are wrinkly and the garlic is soft to the touch.
  3. Meanwhile, remove the nora peppers from the water. Take a paring knife and scrape away the skin, and then remove the stems and seeds.
  4. Once the tomatoes and garlic have finished roasting, remove from oven and let cool. Leaving the oven on the same heat, quickly toast the almonds for about 5 minutes, or just starting to brown. Give the tray a shake if some look to be browning faster than others.
  5. Allow everything to cool to room temperature. Using a mortar and pestle, smash the roasted garlic along with 2 cloves of raw garlic, adding more to taste. Smooth to a paste.
  6. Add the bread and moisten with the sherry vinegar. Smash to a paste. Add the almonds and crush, smoothing to a rough paste.
  7. Peel off the skin from the roast tomatoes and add them to the mortar along with the flesh from the nora peppers. Smash to a rough paste, and then add the olive oil and mix until combined. (You can add more olive oil if it looks too chunky). Add salt and more vinegar, to taste.
Recipe Notes
  1. You can use peeled hazelnuts instead of almonds, or a mix of both.
  2. If you’re in a hurry, you can boil the nora peppers for 15 minutes rather than soaking them overnight. It’s not quite the same, but it’s much faster!
  3. If you prefer to use a blender or food processor, combine the ingredients in the same order as for the mortar and pestle. You’ll get a less chunky sauce, and I think a less tasty one as well!