Romesco Dip Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
• Place the tomatoes, bell pepper, and garlic cloves onto the prepared baking sheet. Brush the vegetables with some of the olive oil, then sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake in the preheated oven until the garlic has turned golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for 10 minutes. While the vegetables are cooling, bake the bread slice on one of the oven racks until golden brown. Remove and allow to cool.
• Scrape the vegetables and any juices from the pan into a food processor or blender. Break the bread into pieces, and add to the food processor along with the toasted almonds, vinegar, paprika, and red pepper flakes. Puree until finely ground, then drizzle in the remaining olive oil with the machine running. Season to taste with additional salt if necessary.

Steps:

• Set up your favorite smoker and add a handful of hardwood chunks. If you have heat control, set it to whatever position will give you moderate heat: 180 to 200 degrees F. Allow the wood to smoke for approximately 30 minutes before adding food.
• While the smoker is heating, position an oven rack 5-inches below the broiler and set the broiler to high.
• Halve the peppers lengthwise, discard the seeds, place cut side-down on a sheet pan, then broil, rotating the pan halfway through, until the skins are charred, about 10 minutes. (Or you can char them over your gas cooktop burners if you have them. It's a little messy but darned efficient and fun in a medieval kind of way.)
• Transfer the peppers to a large bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside for 15 minutes, then slip the charred skins off the peppers with your hands. (Doing this under running water helps.)
• Spread the tomato paste into a thin layer on piece of parchment paper and place on a baking rack along with the peppers and garlic. Smoke for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat a toaster oven to 400 degrees F and toast the almonds until light golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Set up a food processor with an S-blade (the normal processing blade) and load in the bread cubes, smoked peppers, garlic and tomato paste, the toasted almonds, sherry vinegar and salt. Pulse until uniform but still chunky, then leave the motor running while you add the oil in a constant stream. (Do this fairly quickly so that the sauce doesn't puree completely.)
• For full flavor, wait a couple of hours to serve at room temp. To store, cover tightly and refrigerate for up 10 days or freeze in ice cube trays for easy dosing.

Steps:

• Toast the almonds in a dry frying pan for 3-4 mins until starting to turn golden and smelling toasted. Shake the pan often to turn them. Tip out and leave to cool.
• Drain the red peppers and tip into a food processor with the almonds, garlic, vinegar and smoked paprika, then blitz to a chunky paste.
• With the motor still on, slowly drizzle in the olive oil to make a dip. A bit of texture works well for this rather than blending to a super smooth consistency. Season well, adding a little more vinegar, if you like.

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the garlic and tomato paste. Immediately remove from the heat and stir to melt the tomato paste into the oil. (It's okay if it doesn't come together completely.) Set aside and let cool slightly.
• Combine the red peppers, cherry peppers and brine, almonds, pepitas, vinegar, salt, paprika and cayenne in a food processor. Pour the tomato oil and garlic over top. Pulse a couple of times to combine the ingredients, then process until the mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. Add the parsley and process a few more seconds just to incorporate.
• Place the romesco in a serving bowl. Crumble the goat cheese over the top and serve with baked pita chips, tortilla chips, crudite or a combination of all three.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a bowl, toss the pita triangles, oil and salt together. Divide between the prepared baking sheets. Bake until crisp, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove and let cool slightly before serving.