hello this is chef john from food wishes comm with romesco that's right when they
do the Mount Rushmore of cold sauces romesco will take its place next to
aioli and pesto and I'm not sure what the fourth one would be no not ranch
dressing maybe ketchup but we can argue about the
fourth one later the point is romesco is definitely up
there and by the way if you're thinking I already posted this I sort of did a
very long time ago but it wasn't for this channel and it was actually for a
website that's gone out of business so I've wanted to post this new version for
a while and it actually starts exactly like the old version by fire roasting
some red peppers which I'm going to do on top of this stove over an open flame
and of course your other options for this would be do them outside on the
grill or in the oven under the broiler but for me while it might make a little
bit of a mess this is the fastest and easiest method and one thing to keep in
mind here a lot of instructions say do this until the skin turns black which
actually happens relatively quickly by just getting the outside black is not
the same thing as fire roasting right not only are we burning off the skin
here but we also want to be cooking the pepper so yes we do want these blackened
all over but we also want to cook them until they soften up and steam starts to
come out okay so phase one here is just keep turning them around until all that
skin blackens up but then phase two is to continue until they're actually
cooked through and again the dead giveaway is that they soften up and
steam starts to pour out which hopefully you're gonna get a pretty good look at
as I pull that one off the back all right you can see that steam coming out
and the pepper has clearly softened up and what we'll do once we think our
peppers have roasted long enough is transfer those ánewá Bowl and then we'll
want to cover that quickly with a plate or some plastic and we'll just let those
sit there steaming until they reach room temp at which point they should be very
very easy to peel and then what we'll do after we proper the pepper is head back
to the stove where we're gonna toast some garlic in our olive oil and we'll
be doing that over medium heat although I do like to start in a cold pan so
we'll combine our whole garlic cloves and our oil and go ahead and turn on the
heat it simply toast that garlic in the oil
for about three minutes or so or until the outsides just start to turn a little
bit golden brown right not a lot golden brown just a little golden brown and as
you can see I do like keep those clothes moving in the oil
pretty much constantly and while these are not gonna cook through in just three
minutes or so we are taking that sharp raw edge off and we're hopefully gonna
end up with something halfway between roasted garlic in raw garlic and then
what we'll do once our garlic cloves have been very lightly browned is remove
those with a slotted spoon to a ramekin since we want to leave all the oil in
that pan because next up we're gonna use it to toast our bread cubes if we're
using bread okay the bread here is optional whoops I
got a cube plot there we go but anyway as I was saying using bread here is up
to you I mean you are after all the Kurtis Blow of your romesco and if you
can't eat bread those are the breaks but you don't have to use it here it will
still come out beautifully but having said that I do like to include them
because I do think it improves the texture and if we are gonna use them
we'll go ahead and toast those in this oil still over medium heat until they
reach a golden brown and once that's happened we'll go ahead and pull that
off the heat and that is pretty much it for the initial prep although we do
still need to seed and peel our peppers which as I mentioned should be super
easy at this point since they'd been steaming here in this bowl although I do
highly recommend peeling and seeing these in the sink under some running
water which is exactly what I did and sure some people say you lose too much
flavor that way but those people are crazy
you don't Plus trying to peel that skin off without any water is gonna take you
like two hours so suit yourself but if you're keeping score at home I do like
to use running water and then what we'll do once our peppers have been seeded and
peeled is go ahead and give them a rough chop by simply cutting them in strips
one way and then we'll turn them and cut them across into cubes like this and the
only reason we're doing this is so that they blend a little more evenly and a
little easier in the food processor so for me it's worth the extra minute and
then once our peppers have a big cube we'll go ahead and transfer those into
the bowl of our food processor at which point we go ahead and add our garlic
cloves as well as our toasted bread cubes along with any and all associated
oil which brings us to our last major ingredients and that would be some
almonds and I like to use roasted almonds but you can also use raw or
blanched they'll all work just giving slightly different results
and what we'll do once this has been nutted is finish it off with some sherry
vinegar as well as a nice big spoon of Spanish hot smoked paprika or the pepper
eek of your choice you're welcome hungry and for a little extra heat I also added
a little touch of cayenne and last but not least we will add a giant pinch of
salt and that's it we'll go ahead and take that over and process it by pulsing
on and off until it's this course or as smooth as we want and believe it or not
that's it other than adjusting for final seasoning our romesco sauce is done and
right here you're gonna get a great look at my final texture which for me is not
too thick not too thin in other words perfect and if you wanted
at this point you can grill up a whole bunch of vegetables or fish or meat and
start enjoying this fabulous condiment slash sauce but I highly recommend you
don't since I think by wrapping this up and pop it in the fridge for one day the
flavors really really develop a lot more alright I can't prove it it's only
anecdotal evidence but that's what I think so of course we're gonna give it a
taste or two but I do highly recommend wrapping this up and give it a little
time to age in the fridge which is exactly what I did before transferring
some of it into a little serving dish and because I am contractually obligated
to take some pictures I finished with some toasted almonds and a few sliced
green onions and lastly a little tiny drizzle of olive oil to give that top a
little sparkle but anyway I went ahead and garnish that up and took a few shots
before finally enjoying a spoon on a piece of plain bread which is definitely
one of the best ways to enjoy it although another best way would be
spread on some toast top with some chopped up fire roasted green onions
that we've tossed in a little bit of olive oil and salt and that my friends
is a bite of stunning savoriness just intensely flavorful and incredibly
addictive and while this was extraordinary in the blog post I will go
over some of my favorite things to serve this with although it would probably be
faster to list what this wouldn't be good with which is a very very short
list but anyway that's it my take on romesco the new and improved version
sure takes a few minutes of prep but the procedure is quite simple
and I cannot even fathom going through an entire summer of grilling without
having this stuff around I mean that would be like a beach with no bathing
suits you know what that's not a great example but the point I'm trying to make
is if you're not already enjoying this incredible condiment you really really
should be so for those reasons and more I really do hope you give this a try
soon head over to food whooshes dot-com for all the ingredient amounts of more
pho as usual and as always enjoy
you