Almond Romesco Sauce

This an extremely versatile sauce that goes great with a number of dishes and most proteins. A truly great sauce that seems to add a lot of body and smokiness to the dish...if that is what your looking for. It IS supposed to have a chunky texture so straining is something that will obviously affect the final use of the sauce.

This recipe will make roughly 2 cups depending on the size of the veg.

1 LG Red Pepper
3 Med Tomatoes
2 oz. of French Baguette (Lightly toasted)
2 LG garlic cloves, peeled
1/3 cup of toasted almonds, hazelnuts...or both
1 TBsp of chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp of smoked paprika
2 TBsp of sherry vinegar
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
ground red chili flakes to taste
S&P to taste

1. Brush the Red Pepper(s) and Tomatoes with olive oil. Preheat a oven to 375 degrees. Place the tomatoes and red pepper on a wax paper lined sheet pan and put them into the oven. Once the tomatoes and the red pepper have sufficiently charred, remove them from the sheet pan (being careful of course) and place them in a large bowl or plastic lexan and cover with plastic wrap. Once the peppers and tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel of the skin. You might need to use a sharp paring knife to remove some of the skin here....but it all has to go.

2. Turn on a food processor or Robocoupe, fitted with the steel blade and drop in the garlic cloves. When the garlic is chopped and adheres to the sides of the bowl, stop the machine and scrape down the sides. Add the toasted nuts, bread, and chile powder or flakes to the bowl and process to a paste. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the pepper, tomatoes, parsley, paprika, salt, and pepper. Process until smooth, and with the machine running, add the vinegar and olive oil in a slow stream. Process until well amalgamated, then scrape into a bowl. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt or chile as desired. If possible, allow the sauce to stand for an hour at room temperature before using.

This will keep for several days in the refrigerator, the garlic will become more pungent.

*Cooking the peppers and tomatoes on the grill for a slightly smoking taste!