Our Not Romesco, Romesco

10 minutes prep 10 minutes prep 30 minutes active cooking 40 minutes total

Makes 6 - 8 servings

Jump to the recipe

No matter what you call it, it’s delicious.

Fishers in Tarragona, south of Barcelona along Spain’s Mediterranean coast, make a sauce of roasted tomatoes thickened with almonds to eat with seafood, and it often includes the dried version of the local nyora pepper. That’s romesco. So my romesco-inspired condiment is just roasted pepper and almond sauce. No matter what you call it, it’s delicious.

What You'll Need

Ingredients

For the shopping list

1 pound of Mini Sweet Peppers
1 cup of Whole Almonds (try with hazelnuts!)
2-3 cloves of Garlic

From our shop

Out of stock

1/4 cup of Madre Terra
$29.00– Sicily - Italy

To taste Silk Chili
$10.00– Kahramanmaras - Turkey

2 tablespoons of Moscatel Vinegar
$17.00– Andalucia - Spain

To taste Italian Fine Sea Salt
$7.00– Trapani - Sicily

Equipment

From the kitchen

1 Chef Knife
1 Sheet Pan
1 Food Processor or Blender
1 Spatula
Measuring Spoons

"Eat it with meat, chicken, seafood, or vegetables, use it as a dip, or just go at it with a spoon."

~ Jim Dixon, founder Wellspent and Real Good Food

What you'll have to do

Step 1

While I’ve blackened and peeled dozens of red bell peppers to make this sauce, these days I take a simpler approach. Start with a 1 lb bag of mini sweet peppers. Spread them on a sheet pan, roast at 350F for about 30 minutes, and pull off the stems when they’re cool enough to handle.

Step 2

Sometimes I’ll roast the almonds for a few minutes, but I often use them raw. Use a food processor to chop about a cup of whole almonds along with 2 or 3 cloves of garlic into a coarse meal.

Step 3

Add the peppers, about a quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil, a few pinches of sea salt, a shake of silk chili and about 2 tablespoons of vinegar.

Step 4

Process until you get a smooth paste, tasting and adding more olive oil, vinegar, and salt if needed. I like my romesco-adjacent sauce a little thick, more like a dip.