We all have our favorite tomato-based Italian pasta sauce whether it’s a quick and light Marinara sauce, robust homemade Ragu Bolognese, or the summery no-cook alla Checca with fresh tomatoes and basil, but to change it up a little, I’d like to suggest a nutty, rich-flavored Romesco sauce. The combination of roasted red peppers and nuts is a favorite of mine and one that I think everyone should add to their repertoire – plus, besides being fragrant and satisfyingly delicious, the sauce is vegan, naturally gluten-free, heart healthy, and low in sodium.
Romesco is a sauce originating in Catalonia, Spain and typically made from almonds, pine nuts and/or hazelnuts, olive oil, roasted garlic, olive oil, and bitxo peppers or nyora peppers – a smaller, sweet, dried variety of red bell pepper that we commonly use. Other common ingredients include roasted tomatoes, red wine vinegar, and onion. It’s a fantastic all-purpose sauce that goes well with vegetables, meat, and fish. I’ve tossed roasted potatoes with it, served it alongside fish, and, of course, it lends itself beautifully to pasta.
Enjoying a late season harvest of tomatoes, I was inspired to recreate a Romesco sauce redolent with roasted tomatoes, similar to that of Thomas Keller’s recipe in Ad Hoc At Home. It’s popularity at the dinner table, prompted another batch the following week. The first time I included red hybrid and yellow heirloom tomatoes along with an orange pepper and the second edition included all red tomatoes and green peppers from our garden – so, as always, I encourage you to take liberties, be creative – make it your own!
Romesco Sauce
inspired by Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc At Home’s Romesco Sauce
Ingredients:
6-8 fresh tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1 red bell pepper, halved lengthwise, cored and seeded
½ large onion, cut in half
3 large garlic cloves
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
¼ cup slivered almonds
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
Yield: approximately 2 cups
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Directions:
1. Place the tomatoes, pepper, onion, (cut side down) and garlic on a rimmed baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 1 hour, until the vegetables are well browned with some charring on the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.
2. Meanwhile, heat a small pan over medium heat. Add the almonds to the pan and toast for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until fragrant.
3. Remove the skins from the tomatoes and peppers. Remove the outer layer of the onion and coarsely chop the onion. Add the roasted vegetables, chopped onion and roasting juices to a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Season to taste.
Makes about 2 cups. Refrigerate in a covered container for up to 2 weeks.
Prepare pasta according to package directions. Mix with sauce and serve with shrimp and garnished with frizzled kale (directions below).
For the shrimp: marinate 1 pound of fresh shrimp (rinsed, shelled, and deveined) in the juice of 1 lemon and 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil seasoned with 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves, sea salt and freshly ground pepper for 30 minutes to an hour before cooking. I quickly cooked the shrimp in the hot olive oil after the frizzled kale – turning once, 1-2 minutes until they’re opaque in color.
Vegan/Vegetarian option: Shown here with Barilla Plus thin spaghetti, topped with frizzled lacinato kale , also known as dinosaur kale, adding a delightful crunch and a huge amount of nutrition. I’ve never been a huge fan of kale, which is why I wanted to experiment with another way to prepare it other than boiled or cooked down in the southern greens fashion. After washing and removing the center rib, wrap in paper towels to dry, and tear it into bite-size pieces with your fingers. Heat about ½ inch of olive oil, sprinkled with red pepper flakes, to med-high and add a handful of kale at a time to frizzle. Be careful of splattering oil from water remaining on the kale leaves.
Enjoy 🙂
What a lovely combination of flavors! this sounds delicious!
THIS LOOKS SO CREAMY AND YUMMY! mmm bet it tastes fantastic!!
That looks fantastic! Love that sauce — and the pic of the veggies roasting is gorgeous.
This looks delicious and I’d LOVE to make it – I love roasted veggies and they would be delicious as a sauce. I think I can figure out how to peel skin off the tomatoes, but any tips on how to peel skin off of the peppers?
@Roxan – When you roast the vegetables, the skin gets a bit charred and separates from the flesh making it easy to peel off.
That looks delicious – I recently discovered the awesomeness that is roasted tomatoes after a co-worker game me pounds of them and I scrambled about for a good way to use them. I haven’t done an onion with them yet, although I use a very similar method with tomatillos and onions to make salsa verde. I’ll have to check out Ad Hoc at Home from the library again to look at this recipe – that’s such a great cookbook!
Yummmm . . .think I’ll make it for dinner tonight!
Thanks for the peeling tip! This looks wonderful!
Hi Priscilla!!
I love Romesco sauce and I really love your version of it – will definitely be bookmarking to try soon!!! Your blog is beautiful – really enjoying taking a look around!!
Hope to see you at the next blogging event!!
Wow! You’re style of cooking is very close to mine. All the robust color and flavor of the Mediterranean. This Romesco recipe is awesome, and the photos of it are beautiful. So far, fhe few I checked were “right down my alley” Love your blog!
Thanks for your yummy comments 🙂
@Michael – I used roasted tomatoes for a tomato soup, too. See “Roasted Tomato Soup with Manchego Wafers”. Where are you in Arkansas? I’m coming back for a visit in 2 weeks!
@Evelyn – you should totally, make this for dinner. Look forward to seeing you in 2 weeks!
Looks excellent, Priscilla! I can smell it through the screen. Thank god I can’t eat it through the screen, I’d eat it all!
Priscilla…you always put together great dishes…however, so far…this has got to be my favourite!
Very interesting pairing with the kale and of course the Romesco sauce just blends it together beautifully. Those jumbo shrimps put my litte ‘Matane’ Quebec shrimp to shame ;o)
Ciao for now,
Claudia
OH my! Those shrimp look so juicy and delicious… along with the rest of the dish. I just finished dinner but could easily (and happily!) eat this all up! Divine!
Mary xo
Delightful Bitefuls
oooh romesco, that sounds great ~ love the picture of the roasted tomatoes- I bet your house smelled amazing
~Chef Louise
Priscilla – this dish looks amazing…give me pasta and seafood and I’m a happy girl! =)
So I have never made Romesco sauce before…and I figured out the ingredient that I always have been missing…nuts! The almonds add a wonderful texture and flavor, and I’m glad I finally pinpointed that secret ingredient. Next time I order a dish, I’ll be able to appreciate it more. Thanks for sharing with us love!
WOW, and wow…So when are you making this for me??? 🙂 This looks amazing, gorgeous recipe 🙂
Looks very delicious, especially with my favourite there…prawns!!…yum
This looks sooo yummy! Too tired to cook dinner tonight (will anyway) but I wish I had someone to make this for me. Frankly, I would be happy with the roasted veggies!
If it’s good enough to make twice in two weeks–it’s a must try! It looks very warming and perfect for fall!