Spanish Romesco Sauce

I have seen this beautiful sauce pop up over a couple of blogs I follow, like Karen of Back Road Journal and Maureen of Orgasmic Chef and since I was making a Spanish potato omelet for an appetizer for a recent dinner party, I knew I had to pair it with this luxurious sauce. Spaniards sure know how to make beautiful raw dishes like Gazpacho, this sauce is smooth and perfectly balanced, making it an amazing addition to chicken or fish or even a simple pasta or gnocchi dish. The toasted almonds become the thickener and the olive oil emulsifies everything to a smooth, creamy sauce. I omitted the bread because I wanted to make it gluten free and because our dinner party had two kids, I went light on the smoked paprika and garlic, feel free to ramp it up if you’re in the mood.

Makes 375 mL  (1 1/2 cups) sauce

Original recipe, please click here

Ingredients:

• 1 large fire roasted red pepper, skin removed
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup almond flour, toasted
• 3 Campari tomatoes (see notes)
• 2 tbsp Red Wine vinegar
• Pinch of smoked paprika
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Mediterranean Sea Salt*, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

1. Add everything but the parsley to your immersion blender container and blend until creamy and smooth.
2. Stir in the finely chopped parsley.
3. Serve warm or room temperature over fish, chicken or pasta. You can even use it as a dip for raw veggies or crackers.

*This is the sea salt I used. I purchased it San José, Spain last year.

Notes:

• You may use 1/2 cup passata if you don’t have campari tomatoes

• I always forget the parsley so it’s not a big deal if you miss it.

• I have also used smoked sea salt and it’s heavenly

• I generally use roasted garlic purée which I have on hand because our stomachs can’t take raw garlic