What is Romesco Sauce? & What Do I To Make With It?
How To Use Romesco Sauce
Have you ever seen Chefs making a Romesco Sauce on TV and wondered what it tastes like? Romesco Sauce is a Spanish sauce that uses Fresh Red Bell Peppers, Calabrian chilis, or Piquillo peppers and often charred tomatoes that end up being purred with almonds, hazelnuts & bread, garlic & olive oil. Each ingredient act as thickeners. The notes of smokiness really help elevate the sauce, making it sing. Not the kind of smokiness that you’d get from BBQ. It’s a lighter, sweeter smoke profile. A common use of Romesco sauce often comes paired with vegetables and fish. Yet, that is only the beginning of the ideas and uses for this classy chef sauce, “sauce: Romesco“. In the article, I will show you 3 different Romesco sauce recipes, plus 3 recipes to use Romesco sauce in.
Read each of the Romesco sauce recipes to get a feel of which one is your favorite. You can mix and match the Romesco sauces from one recipe to another. Enjoy
How To Use Romesco Sauce | 4 Wonderful Recipes
Fresh Pasta with Romesco Sauce:
Fresh Pasta with Romesco Sauce:
Think of Romesco sauce as a fancy tomato sauce. Deeper in flavor with a wonderful, often hardier consistency. This makes Romesco sauce a major player when it comes to pasta when pasta already shows off all-by-itself. When we think about the quality of pasta sauces they are either great, or not so very memorable, or even watery. Next time you make a tomato sauce ( recipe link here) try adding some Calabrian chilis or Piquillo peppers & charr your Tomatoes and you’ll have a huge winner at the dinner table. Your eaters will look at you in amazement and wonder what you did.
Fresh Pasta With Romesco Sauce
Ingredients
Fresh Pasta Ingredients
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 cups Double 0 Flour (00)
- 4 Large Eggs
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
Instructions
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 1/2 teaspoon to 1 tsp 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.
Video Below - How To Use A Pasta Rolling Machine
White Fish And Romesco Sauce
White Fish And Romesco Sauce
Light and flaky white fish paired with a smokey tomato and pepper sauce that’s been thickened with hazelnuts and dry bread. The only problem with this dish is it goes way too fast. You’ll be left wanting more for sure. Using any white fish you like works here. Halibut, Dover Sole, Sea Bass, Tilapia, etc are all great selections covering expensive fish to less expensive cuts.
Dover Sole With Romesco Sauce
Ingredients
Romesco Sauce
- 1/3 cup Blanched Hazelnuts
- 6 tbsp Olive Oil
- 4 Red Bell Peppers
- 1 medium Charred Tomato
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Spanish Paprika
White Fish
- 6 filets Dover Sole | Halibut | Sea Bass | Tilapia
- 3 tbsp Olive Oil
- 3 tbsp Quality Butter
- Salt + White Pepper / To Taste
Instructions
- Place the tomatoes in a wide ovenproof dish, in a single layer. Drizzle the smallest amount of olive oil over the tomatoes and shake the pan to distribute the oil and tomatoes. Place in the oven, and shake the pan every 10 – 15 mins, to avoid sticking, until the tomatoes are charred and a little caramelized
- Using either Red Bell Peppers or Calabrian chilis or piquillo and cut them into size and add them to a food processor or blender along with all the ingredients besides the olive oil
- Blend together, then check the consistency. Add the olive oil next. Try to not add too much.
- If you would like the sauce thicker add in dry bread. Place the cubed bread on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 for 3 to 6 minutes. Add the stale bread to the blender little by little until you like the consistency. Too thick, add water. You can warm the sauce up in a saucepot from there, but do not cook the sauce or the bright color will disappear.
Fish Cookery
- Using the Stove/Oven Method:Season fish filets - Next, melt butter in a pan large enough for all the fish filets plus the olive oil.Add each piece of fish one by one to help the cooking temperature not drop too quickly. Cook the fish for 3 to 4 minutes then place into a preheated oven of 400 degrees for a short few minutes. Only flip the fish once while in the pan. 2 minutes aside
Plating the Fish
- Add a small amount of the sauce to the middle of the plate and place the fish filet in the middle. Add more sauce running down the length of the fish filet or perpendicular. Garnish with chopped parsley and lemon wedges.
Shrimp and Red Quinoa with Romesco Sauce
Shrimp and Red Quinoa with Romesco Sauce
Shrimp and Red Quinoa with Romesco Sauce is a healthy weeknight dinner that is sure to please. The textures alone make this recipe special, but then you add in the fact it’s healthy. You’ll feel good making this for your family knowing you’re feeding them something that is good for their body. Here’s a little information about the special ingredients in our recipe.
Shrimp have many nutrients our bodies are often lacking, to list a few; selenium, copper, choline, zinc, niacin, vitamins b6 and b12. Selenium is hard to absorb for most people. Some foods and/or supplements that we take do not prevent selenium deficiencies, yet shrimp raises measured levels of selenium in those who eat it.
Shrimp and Red Quinoa with Romesco Sauce
Ingredients
Making The Romesco Sauce
- 1 7-ounce jar Piquillo Peppers / drained
- 1 cup inch-thick sliced country bread cut
- 8 cloves Garlic /peeled
- 1 cup Marcocna Raw Almonds / roasted - blanched
- 1 tsp Ground Coriander
- 1 tsp Ground Cumin
- 4 chiles Ancho Chiles / 1.5 ounces
- 1 cup Olive Oil, plus 2 tbsps
- 2 large Plum Tomatoes
- 1/3 Vidalia Onion
- Salt & Pepper / To Taste
Protein
- 1+ Pounds Shrimp / peeled / deveined
The Quinoa
- 3/4 cup Cooked quinoa / follow pack instructions
Instructions
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 1/2 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 tbsp 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
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