My today’s recipe is my take on a Spanish classic – a plate of romesco sauce topped with meltingly soft braised leeks. It’s a simple and delicious dish that makes for a fabulous starter or a stand-alone meal. I like to have it with slices of toasted sourdough and some soft cheese.
While you can make romesco with flame-roasted jarred peppers instead of fresh ones, I opted to use fresh peppers as there are other ingredients in this recipe that need roasting anyway so I figured I might as well roast the peppers too. It’s definitely cheaper and less waste-inducing this way – maybe it’s just me but I find that I can never get round to using up the rest of an opened jar before the mould sets in.
Other than some roasting, which isn’t very hands on deck, romesco sauce doesn’t require much work. You whack everything into a food processor and out comes this silky yet full of texture, tangy, sweet and smoky sauce. While I call it a sauce, you can definitely make it into a dip too. It’s ground roasted almonds and especially breadcrumbs that will help you achieve the consistency you like. The more breadcrumbs you add the more dip-like this romesco sauce gets.
Traditional Spanish rendition of this dish usually involves flame-licked calcots (which are essentially like spring onions or scallions to my American friends). I replaced calcots with another member of allium family, which happens to be in season in the UK right now, leeks. Instead of charring them on a red hot BBQ, I seared them on a hot heavy pan and then simmered in stock until butter soft.
I really like this dish, especially on a cold October day. It goes phenomenally well with a thick slice of toasted sourdough and some soft feta-style cheese. I hope you’ll give it a go!
MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS
LEEKS: Leeks are a delicious and an underappreciated winter vegetable that gets totally transformed with braising. I used four leeks in this recipe.
RED PEPPERS: Red bell peppers are a key ingredient in this recipe. I used raw peppers and roasted them in a hot oven, alongside cherry tomatoes, garlic and chilli. You can use flame-roasted ones, sold in jars, but since you are going to have to put the oven on for this recipe anyway you might as well roast everything yourself.
TOMATOES: I used a punnet of quality cherry tomatoes roasted to perfection alongside peppers, garlic and chilli.
CHILLI: Chilli is an optional addition, but if you would like your romesco sauce to have a bit of a kick, I recommend roasting an entire chilli before adding it to the sauce. Roasting mellows the heat a little and if you want to disarm the chilli even further, scrape out the seeds before adding to a food processor.
ALMONDS: Ground almonds are used to thicken and flavour this fiery romesco sauce. Before you roast your veggies for the sauce, roast a tray of almonds in the oven removing when fragrant and golden. You won’t need all of them for the sauce so save the excess for topping various dishes, including this one.
GARLIC: While traditional romesco sauce recipes frequently use a couple of raw garlic cloves, I like the mellow flavour of roasted garlic so I roasted an entire head of garlic while roasting peppers, tomatoes and chilli.
DRY SPICES: Smoked paprika adds a beautiful depth of flavour to this romesco sauce, I also added a smidge of cumin for earthiness.
VINEGAR: I used sherry vinegar to brighten this sauce up a little, not too much, enough to taste. If you wanted to substitute red wine vinegar would be a good choice too.
PARSLEY: I like a smattering of fresh parsley to finish this dish off with. Parsley goes so well with all of the ingredients, adds a hint of herbaceous and a pop of contrasting colour as leeks, while delicious, tend to look a little anemic.
OLIVE OIL: I used cooking olive oil to sear the leeks and to coat cherry tomatoes and some extra virgin olive oil to give the sauce more luxurious mouthfeel.
BREADCRUMBS / OLD BREAD: To thicken this romesco sauce, you want to use either stale plain bread or breadcrumbs. I always have a jar of breadcrumbs in my cupboard so that’s what I used. I toasted them in a pan a little first, but that’s just me, you don’t have to.
HOW TO MAKE IT?
1) ROAST ALMONDS
Start off by roasting the almonds until fragrant and golden. I recommend roasting an entire tray of almonds even though you won’t need as much for this recipe. They make a great salad, pasta or dessert topper and an excellent snack. If you do only roast a small amount, watch them like a hawk as they will roast much quicker.
2) ROAST ALL THE VEGGIES
Once your almonds are done, increase the oven temperature and roast all your veggies. You want the peppers especially to get a nice char on top, tomatoes will soften and some of them might get charred but not as much. Oh and keep an eye on that chilli as due to its diminutive size, it will get done the quickest. Once your peppers are ready, trap them in a bowl so that all that steam loosens their skins – it will come off really easily.
3) BRAISE THE LEEKS
While the veggies are roasting, first sear then simmer the leeks until knife soft.
4) BLEND
Finally, put key sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until you get a homogenous sauce. Season the romesco sauce to taste and thicken it with breadcrumbs.
6) SEASON AND SERVE
Spoon the sauce on a plate, arrange drained leeks on top. Dress with chopped roasted almonds and fresh parsley and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil of liked. It’s delicious with some toasted sourdough and a good vegan cheese.
- 60 g / heaped ½ cup almonds, plus extra to garnish
- 2 red bell peppers (about 400 g / 14 oz)
- 250 g / 8.8 oz fresh cherry tomatoes
- a head of garlic
- 1 red medium chilli
- 15 ml / 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, more to drizzle
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 15 ml / 1 tbsp sherry vinegar, more to taste
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 heaped tsp smoked sweet paprika
- ¼ tsp cumin
- approx. 20 g / 1/3 cup toasted breadcrumbs* (GF if needed)
- fresh parsley, to garnish
BRAISED LEEKS
- 4 large leeks
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 stock cube or 2 cups / 500 ml veggie stock
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
- salt & pepper
ROMESCO SAUCE
- Pre-heat the oven to 160° C / 320° F. I recommend roasting an entire tray of almonds and saving the excess for other dishes or to snack on. Spread almonds on a large roasting tray and roast until fragrant and golden – about 12 minutes but it does depend how many your roast. If you only roast what is needed for the recipe, watch them like a hawk as they will roast much faster.
- Cut peppers into half and deseed. Cut the top of the garlic head off, drizzle exposed cloves with 1 tsp of olive oil and wrap it in a piece of kitchen foil.
- Once almonds are done, take the tray out. Increase the temperature to 200° C / 390° F. Carefully remove the almonds from the tray and set aside. Place cut peppers on the tray, cut side down, an entire chilli and foil-wrapped garlic head. Add cherry tomatoes to the tray drizzling them with 2 tsp of olive oil. Bake for about 30-40 minutes (take the chilli out at about 20 minutes), until the skins of the peppers are blackened and tomatoes are soft and blackened in places.
- Using tongs, transfer piping hot peppers to a bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film or a tightly fitting lid. Set aside for 5 minutes. Peel the skins off with your fingers, as soon as they are cool enough to touch.
- Place almonds in a food processor and grind finely. Next add in charred cherry toms, peeled peppers, a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, squeezed out garlic cloves (I used half a head) and as much chilli as you like. I used half, deseed your chilli for less heat.
- Season with a generous amount of salt, some black pepper, smoked paprika, cumin and sherry vinegar. I also add a touch of sugar for balance.
- Thicken to the desired consistency gradually adding breadcrumbs.
BRAISED LEEKS
- Clean your leeks, cut the dark green parts off (keep for a stock) and cut the rest into two segments.
- Dissolve stock cube and nutritional yeast in about 2 cups (500 ml) of hot water. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Pre-heat a heavy cast iron pan on low-medium heat. Once hot, add the oil, swivel it to coat the bottom of the pan. Arrange leek segments on top. Sear the leeks well on all sides, then add the liquid – you want it to barely cover the leeks (add more water if not enough). Weigh the leeks down with a small lid. Simmer the leeks gently until they are knife tender, for about 30 minutes.
- Once soft, remove from the liquid (keep it for a soup or another sauce) and drain well. Serve on top of the romesco sauce. Sprinkle with chopped roasted almonds and chopped parsley.