Romesco Sauce: 4 Delicious Recipe Ideas

How To Make Romesco Sauce

• Using a food processor, add the nuts, either hazelnuts or almonds or both. Pulse to break up the nuts.

  Pulse: 15 times
• Roast a tomato🍅

  - Slice in half, cover with olive oil, salt & pepper.

  Place tomato halves face down on a skillet or cast iron. (heat the cast iron in the oven while preheating)

  Cook in preheated oven until tender | 325-degree oven
• Blend all ingredients with the nuts in the food processor until smooth.

How To Make The Fresh Pasta

• You could use your hands and a large cutting board or bowl to combine the pasta ingredients or use a food processor.

Using Your Hands' Method:

• Combine the flour, or just use 4 cups of all-purpose flour. Make a well out of the flour and place the eggs in the middle along with the olive oil, plus ½ teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Mix together into a ball. 
• Keep working the dough until it becomes smooth. 7 to 12 minutes. Everyone works at different speeds. We are working on the dough to create the gluten strands. 

  Once finished the dough should be smooth

Use The Food Processor Method:

• Add flour + Salt, then 2 eggs and turn the machine on. Then add the last 2 eggs one at a time and allow the dough to come together, then add the olive oil.
• Keep working the dough until it becomes smooth. 7 to 12 minutes. Everyone works are different speeds. We are working the dough to create the gluten strands. 

  Once finished the dough should be smooth
• Rest the dough for 30 minutes, wrapped in her refrigerator. 
• Watch the video below to learn how to roll out pasta dough...
• Cook pasta in boiling water with enough salt in the water that it tastes just like the ocean. 

  Chef Tip: Fresh pasta cooks really quickly. Depending on the cut you choose for your pasta, the average cook time is 90 seconds. 
• Make your pasta whichever way you like and add it to the Romesco sauce as soon as it comes out of the boiling water. You must marry the sauce and pasta together at this moment. NO waiting, 🙂  If the sauce is too thick you can add some of the pasta water to control the texture.

• Roasting the tomatoes: place 1 large sliced tomato in a casserole dish in a single layer. Slice into 5 to 6 pieces.

  Drizzle olive oil over the tomatoes and shake the pan to distribute the oil and tomatoes. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top.

  Place in the 350 preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.

  Next, turn on the broiler and add char to the tomatoes. Once lightly chard, remove from the oven and cool.
• The Peppers/Chiles: use a food processor or blender and puree.

  Once you pick your combination, cut it into small pieces and add them to a food processor or blender. Pulse a few times, then add the additional ingredients.

  Red Bell Peppers

  Calabrian Chilis

  Piquillo Peppers
• Blanched Hazelnuts: cook in salted water until softened. They will be added to the food processor and combined with the peppers.
• Thickening the sauce: place cubed bread on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 for 3 to 6 minutes. Mix the toasted bread in the blender until combined.

  Too thick, add water or more olive oil.
• The sauce: add the sauce to a medium-sized pot and warm the sauce. The idea is to warm the sauce to medium-high heat and stop the cooking.

Fish Cookery

• Cooking The Dover Sole Fish: season the fish filets with salt and white pepper. Yes, black pepper is ok.

  Next, melt butter in a pan large enough to fit 4 fish filets.

  Add each piece of fish one by one. Waiting 15 seconds between adding each filet. This will manage the temperature from not dropping too quickly. 

  Cook the fish for 3 to 4 minutes. Only flip the fish once while in the pan.

  Then place into a preheated oven of 400 degrees for a short few minutes.

Plating the Fish

• Add a small amount of the romesco sauce to the middle of the plate. Then place the fish filet in the middle on top, perpendicular. Add more sauce running down the length of the fish filet.

  Garnish with chopped parsley and lemon wedges.

Making the Romesco Sauce

• Put the Ancho Chile's in a small microwavable bowl. Heat one cup of water in the microwave for 3 minutes, then add the hot water to the Chile's. Allow the Chile's to steep until they soften, about 5 minutes.
• From there toast the bread. Bring a pan to med-high heat. Add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil then add your 1 inch cubed bread. Toast for about 5 minutes, what you are looking for is that nice toasted crisp on the outside. You can also use a preheated oven.
• After the 5-minute timer is up, drain the Ancho Chiles, reserving ½ cup of the soaking liquid. Using a sharp paring knife, slit the Chile's and remove the seeds. Transfer the Chile's to a food processor. Add the reserved Chile-soaking liquid plus the Marcocna almonds and blend together. Helps break up the almonds. Then add all ingredients for the sauce and process until smooth. Strain the Chile purée through a fine sieve(strainer) for silky consistency.

Cooking The Shrimp

• Take the cleaned shrimp and saute in a pan over medium-high heat with 2-3 tablespoons of Olive Oil /Or GrapeSeed oil plus 1 tablespoon of butter. From there you'll be looking for the shrimp to start turning pink around the edges. At that point, wait another minute or so depending on how many Shrimp your cooking. Then turn the Shrimp and continue cooking till all your Shrimp are a nice pink color. Remove from pan and place on a paper towel to drain. Cut into one shrimp to make sure they are done.

Plating

• In a saucepan, warm your Romesco sauce to serving temperature. Remember, this is non-cooked sauce to keep the vibrant flavor. Add your warm Shrimp to the Romesco sauce to coat all over. Add your fluffy Quinoa to a warmed plate (follow instructions on quinoa package or watch our how-to video in the post below)
• (Chef Tip: place your oven on a low temp and add your plates while bringing everything together). Top your Quinoa with the Shrimp, add a little extra Romesco sauce on top and garnish with a green herb you enjoy like parsley or basil.

How To Make Perfect Quinoa - Video Below