Romesco facts for kids
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| Type | Sauce |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Valls, Tarragona, Spain |
| Main ingredients | tomato, garlic, nuts |
Romesco is a tasty sauce that comes from Valls, a town in the Catalonia region of Spain. Fishermen in this area first created the sauce. They used it to eat with their fish.
Contents
What is Romesco Sauce?
Romesco is a special kind of sauce. It is usually made from roasted tomatoes and garlic. It also contains toasted almonds, pine nuts, or hazelnuts. People add olive oil or sunflower oil to make it smooth. A key ingredient is ñora peppers. These are small, round red peppers that have been dried in the sun.
What's in Romesco?
Sometimes, people add flour or ground stale bread. This helps to make the sauce thicker. It also gives it a nice texture. Other common things to add are sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar. Onions can also be included.
If the sauce is served with fish or snails, people might add fennel or mint leaves. Romesco is often eaten with seafood. But it also tastes great with other foods. You can try it with poultry, some red meats like lamb, and many different vegetables.
Romesco's Many Styles
Food writers have found that there isn't just one "correct" way to make Romesco. There are many different versions! Some Romesco sauces are thick and creamy. Others are thinner. One recipe even used crushed almond cookies instead of almonds and bread. It also added hard-boiled eggs. This shows how creative people can be with the sauce.
Romesco vs. Other Sauces
Romesco sauce is sometimes confused with other similar sauces. Two of these are salsa de calçots and salvitxada.
Salsa de calçots is a special dip. It is served with calçots. Calçots are a type of spring onion that grows in Catalonia. In springtime, people have traditional barbecues called "calçotades". During these parties, calçots are roasted over a fire. Their outer layer gets charred. This burnt part is removed. Then, the soft onion inside is dipped into the sauce.
See also
In Spanish: Romesco para niños
