Smokey Romesco Sauce

Wed, 19 February 2020

Smoky Romesco Sauce (great with roast chicken, lamb, pasta, cheese, quinoa, rice, eggs, anything!)

Makes 12 servings

3 red peppers
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 ripe plum tomatoes
A few twists of the salt and pepper mill
1 head of garlic
50g ground almonds
30g stale sourdough crumbs (or more ground almonds)
1 tablespoon sweet sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
 
Start by firing up the oven to 220°C.

Cut the peppers into chunks, discarding the seeds and the stems. Tumble onto your largest roasting tray with a lick of the olive oil and roast in the oven for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut your tomatoes in half, season and put on another large tray. Cut the head of garlic in half horizontally and place cut side down on the tray of tomatoes. They will steam beautifully in their own paper pods in the same tray as the toms. Anoint with another splash of olive oil. Roast for 20 minutes, until the tomatoes are charred and the garlic is squishy. Turn off the oven and leave the trays inside for a further 10 minutes of gentle cooking (if the peppers are blackening around the sides, let some heat out of the oven).

In a food processor, whizz the ground almonds and slices of sourdough (if using) into fine breadcrumbs. Add the contents of both roasting trays, scraping out all the juices and transferring every garlic clove carefully with a sharp knife. You don’t want the garlic paper. Add the vinegar, paprika and a few twists of the salt and pepper mill. Blitz until sumptuous, but not smooth. Stir through the remaining olive oil.

Serve alongside your Sunday roast, French toast, fried eggs or bowls of chorizo and spaghetti.