Charred-Tomato Romesco with Toasted Almonds and Hazelnuts

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

The great Catalan table sauce, built the slow way: dried peppers rehydrated until velvety, red peppers and tomatoes blistered under the broiler, almonds and hazelnuts toasted, and a slice of olive-oil-fried bread to give it body. It blends into a thick, brick-red, faintly smoky condiment that keeps for over a week in a jar and improves after a night in the fridge. Spoon it over grilled fish, roasted potatoes, charred spring onions, chicken thighs, or a bowl of white beans.

Ingredients

• 3 dried ñora or guajillo chiles (about 1/2 oz), stemmed and seeded
• 1 dried ancho chile, stemmed and seeded
• 2 large red bell peppers
• 3 ripe plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 1 cup boiling water

• 1/2 cup raw whole almonds
• 1/3 cup raw hazelnuts
• 1 slice day-old rustic white bread, crust removed (about 1 oz)
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, for frying the bread

• 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar, plus more to taste
• 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 1/4 tsp fine sea salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for storing
• 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley (optional)

Instructions

1. Tear the dried ñora (or guajillo) and ancho chiles into flat pieces. Toast them in a dry skillet over medium heat for 30 to 45 seconds per side, pressing with a spatula, just until they smell fragrant and turn slightly pliable — do not let them darken or they will taste bitter. Transfer to a heatproof bowl, cover with the 1 cup boiling water, weigh down with a small plate, and soak 20 to 30 minutes until completely soft.
2. Set an oven rack about 6 inches below the broiler and heat the broiler to high. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Put the whole red bell peppers, the halved tomatoes (cut side up), and the unpeeled garlic cloves on the sheet. Rub everything lightly with a little olive oil.
3. Broil 12 to 18 minutes, turning the bell peppers every 4 to 5 minutes, until the pepper skins are blackened and collapsing and the tomatoes are blistered and leaking juice. Pull the garlic out as soon as it is soft and browned in spots, usually after 6 to 8 minutes, so it does not scorch. Pile the bell peppers into a bowl, cover with a plate, and let them steam 10 minutes.
4. Reduce the oven to 350°F. Spread the almonds and hazelnuts on a dry baking sheet and toast 8 to 10 minutes, shaking once, until the almonds smell nutty and the hazelnut skins crack. Rub the hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel to remove most of the skins, then let both nuts cool completely.
5. Heat the 3 tablespoons olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Fry the bread slice 1 to 2 minutes per side until deep golden and crisp all the way through. Drain on paper towels and break into pieces. Reserve any oil left in the pan.
6. Peel the steamed bell peppers (the skins should slip off) and pull out the stems and seeds. Squeeze the garlic out of its skins. Lift the soaked chiles from their liquid and scrape the softened flesh away from any tough bits of skin; reserve 1/4 cup of the soaking liquid.
7. Put the toasted nuts in a food processor and pulse in 1-second bursts until they look like coarse sand, about 20 pulses. Add the fried bread and pulse another 10 times. This dry grind first is what keeps the finished sauce from turning gritty.
8. Add the peeled bell peppers, roasted tomatoes (skins and all), roasted garlic, chile flesh, sherry vinegar, smoked paprika, cayenne if using, and 1 1/4 teaspoons salt. Process 45 seconds to a thick paste, scraping the bowl once.
9. With the machine running, pour in the 1/2 cup olive oil plus the reserved bread-frying oil in a slow, steady stream over about 60 seconds. The sauce will thicken and turn glossy and brick-red. If it is stiffer than a thick pesto, loosen it with the reserved chile soaking liquid a tablespoon at a time.
10. Taste and adjust: it should be nutty and rounded with a clear tang at the back. Add salt in 1/4-teaspoon increments and vinegar 1 teaspoon at a time until it tastes bright rather than sweet. Stir in the parsley by hand if using.
11. Pack into a clean pint jar, smooth the top, and float a thin layer of olive oil over the surface to seal it. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, ideally overnight, before serving — the flavors need that time to knit together. Serve at cool room temperature.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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