Spicy Romesco Sauce Recipes

Steps:

• Roast bell pepper directly over a gas flame, or on a rimmed baking sheet directly under the broiler, turning several times, until blackened all over, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl or resealable plastic bag; cover or seal and let stand 10 minutes. Remove stem and seeds, then peel and discard blackened skin (a paper towel makes quick work of this). Tear pepper into pieces.
• Pulse garlic and almonds in a food processor until finely chopped. Add roasted pepper, tomatoes, vinegar, cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Purée until smooth. With motor running, slowly add oil through feed tube until combined, a few seconds. Serve, or refrigerate in an airtight container up to 5 days.

Steps:

• In the event you don't have shallots, use 1/4 of a large red onion instead.
• roughly chop the peppers, onions and garlic.
• Add all ingredients into a pan and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the peppers are soft enough to cut with fork edge.
• Once everything is pretty soft, put it in a blender and blend until very smooth.
• When ready to serve the crab cakes (detailed in the other recipe "Hot Crab Cakes") then heat the sauce to very hot before spooning over the crab cakes.

Steps:

• Preheat the broiler and cover a baking sheet with foil. Place the tomatoes on the baking sheet, and place under the broiler at the highest setting. Broil for two to four minutes, until charred on one side. Turn over and broil on the other side for two to four minutes until charred. Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl and allow to cool. Peel and core.
• Turn on a food processor fitted with the steel blade and drop in the garlic cloves. When the garlic is chopped and adheres to the sides of the bowl, stop the machine and scrape down the sides. Add the toasted almonds (or almonds and hazelnuts), bread and chile powder or flakes to the bowl and process to a paste.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the pepper, tomatoes, parsley, paprika, salt and pepper. Process until smooth, and with the machine running, add the vinegar and olive oil in a slow stream, beginning with the smaller amount of olive oil and thinning out as desired. Process until well amalgamated, then scrape into a bowl.
• Taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt or chile as desired. If possible, allow the sauce to stand for an hour at room temperature before using. Serve with fish and/or grilled vegetables, or on crostini.

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.