Romesco Sauce

INGREDIENTS

• 3-4 tomatoes (roma or vine-ripened)

• 5 cloves garlic, unpeeled

• 1-4 chile peppers, or 1 tsp crushed red pepper

• 1/2 cup whole almonds

• 12oz jar roasted red peppers (~4 roasted peppers), drained

• 2-4 tbsp lemon juice, to taste

• zest from 1 lemon

• 4 tbsp olive oil

• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar

• 1 tbsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375 ºF.

2. Spread the almonds, garlic, tomatoes, and chile peppers (if using) on a baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the almonds are toasty, then remove the almonds. Turn the oven to broil and set the rack about 6-8" from the top of the oven. Broil about 10 minutes until the garlic skins start to char, the tomatoes are juicy and their skin is splitting, and the chiles are starting to blister. When cool enough to handle, remove the peel from the garlic and if you would like, de-seed the chiles and remove the blistered skin (optional).

3. Add all of the ingredients into a food processor. Process until you reach the desired consistency, the sauce should be relatively smooth with some texture from the nuts.