Back from hiatus

I have been somewhat remiss in posting things here. I could blame vacation, but that was nearly a month ago now, so I guess it will be down-right laziness.

In June (yeah, that long ago) I had the ladies over for our supper club and served up a spinach-lemon paella and roasted asparagus with romesco sauce.

Romesco is quite possibly my new favorite thing. This sauce is good on so many things. It would do well on any roasted veggie (think asparagus, potatoes, summer squash). It's also really great with a fried egg.

There are as many recipes for romesco sauce as there are for chocolate chip cookies, but the version I made did a combo of several versions I saw online. The key ingredients are: roasted red peppers, nuts, bread, and smoked spanish paprika (also called pimenton). If you've never had smoked Spanish paprika, you really should try it. It imparts just a slight smoky-sweet flavor to whatever you put it in. A little does go a long way, so proceed cautiously your first time using it.

Romesco sauce
4-6 cloves of garlic
1 tomato, diced
2-3 slices of stale french bread
4-5 roasted red peppers, blackened skin and seeds removed
1/2 c. almonds, lightly toasted
1-2 Tblsp. smoked Spanish paprika
Olive oil

1. Heat 3 T. Olive oil in a skillet over medium low heat.
2. Add garlic cloves whole to the skillet.
3. When the garlic cloves start to turn golden brown, remove from pan to a food processor or blender.
4. Add the diced tomato to the skillet and cook until softened (2-3 minutes) and then moved to the food processor.
5. Add the French bread to the skillet. Cook until both sides of the bread are golden brown and move bread and remaining olive oil to the food processor.
6. Add remaining ingredients (except olive oil) to the food processor.
7. As you blend, stream in about 1/4 c. of olive oil or until the mixture has a slightly smooth texture. Taste, and adjust the salt and smoked paprika.

You don't want it super-smooth, just smooth enough so that you can see tiny bits of the almonds.

Enjoy!