Romesco diaries: Entry #1, Shrimp penne

Romesco diaries is my way of documenting how I use a week's worth of homemade romesco.

 Meal #1 with romesco: Seared prawns with penne topped with romesco. 

Pasta Recipe:
Serves two 

• Medium-sized prawns marinated in salt, pepper & paprika
• Penne Rigate (2 cups uncooked)
• Small onion (half finely chopped; half slivered)
• Garlic cloves (4–5, finely chopped)
• Red wine vinegar (1 tablespoon for deglazing)
• Olive oil (2 tablespoons; one for searing prawns, the other for sweating onions & garlic)
• 1/2–3/4 can of stewed tomatoes
• Dried or fresh chopped parsley (1/2 teaspoon)
• Paprika (1/2 teaspoon)
• Salt & pepper to taste (I use sea salt)
• Romesco (1 tablespoon added to pasta)

1. Bring water to boil, add pasta and some salt. Once cooked to a still-crunchy firm texture (al dente), remove (you will be cooking this twice). Keep boiled liquids (magical pasta water). 

2. Sear prawns in pan heated with olive oil. 5–6 seconds each side. Set aside. 

3. In still hot pan, add olive oil, garlic and onions. Sweat until caramelised slightly. Pan should appear slightly browned in some areas.

4. Deglaze with red wine vinegar. Add pasta and some pasta water if it is dry. Toss. Add stewed tomatoes and their juice. Toss again. Add romesco. Toss some more. 

5. Season with paprika, parsley, salt and pepper. Add prawns and give it a final few good tossings.

6. Serve topped with romesco.

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So I made a romesco last night for the very first time. Can't say I followed any one exact recipe as I looked at a few online and viewed some on Youtube; and kind of tailored the recipes to what ingredients and tools I have at home. 

With romesco, most recipes call for using a food processor. Ours found it most opportune to break itself prior to romesco-night so I had to make do with a closed-top mini-slice-&-dice thingamajig (a Philips hand-blender). I thought the closed top would mean no drizzling in of olive oil to emulsify the mixture at the end while the processor keeps running. But just adding the oil in then blitzing did just fine to emulsify.

I used this hand-blender in replacement of a food processor.  It comes with a beaker and the closed chopper container on the left, which I used.

Nevertheless, it was a success at the end of much too long a night in the kitchen. One romesco recipe cited cooking time as 30 minutes. Bollocks. It took ~90 minutes to roast the peppers, tomatoes and garlic. I may have overlooked the use of pre-roasted bell peppers in the recipe. Oh well.

Here's my romesco recipe: 

• 4 medium-sized ripe tomatoes (cored) 
• 1 garlic bulb (halved crosswise; one half for roasting, the other finely chopped raw)
• 1 large red bell pepper (cored and sliced in half)
• 1/4 cup blanched almonds
• 1/4 cup peeled hazelnuts (peel these once you've panfried them as the skin crisps up and makes removal easy)
• Olive oil 
• 2–3 tablespoons red wine vinegar 
• 1–2 tablespoons red wine (not necessary if you don't have any) / 1–2 tablespoons water (or as much as needed to tailor consistency of the sauce)
• 1 slice stale white bread (if unavailable, toast fresh slice with olive oil in a pan until brown and crisp)
• 1 red chili (optional; cored and opened to remove seeds; lay flattened when pan-searing)
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• Salt to taste
• ~ 1 tablespoon dried chili flakes (tailor according to required heat) 

1. Place tomatoes, half a garlic bulb, bell pepper halves on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil. Put into over heated at 375F or 190C. Roast for 60–90 minutes or until they caramelise. Tomatoes and garlic should not be burnt. Bell peppers can be left in longer and as the skin starts to blacken in some parts, remove.
2. While waiting, add a tablespoon of chopped garlic into the food processor / hand-blender-chopper receptacle.
3. Toast almonds and hazelnuts in a heated pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Brown them then set aside to cool. Now sear red chili flat in pan and set aside once the skin starts crackling; set aside.
4. Add nuts and bread to the garlic in the food processor. Blend until fine and crumbly like breadcrumbs.
5. Once roasted, remove skin off tomatoes and bell peppers and add to the food processor. Garlic should be roasted until soft in texture; and added to the food processor. Add seared red chili. Blend until incorporated with the dry ingredients; a paste should form.
6. For non-proper-food-processor users: Add tablespoon by tablespoon of olive oil, blending in between each addition. Repeat until the consistency is emulsified / creamy. This should take 2–3 tablespoons.
For food-processor users: Keep mixture on a blitz while pouring in a slow, steady stream of olive oil, as if making mayonnaise. Stop once consistency is emulsified / creamy.
7. Add red wine vinegar. Pulse. If it is still to thick, add red wine / water; or both. Pulse until it reaches a smooth-enough consistency whilst retaining a coarse texture.

8. Season with paprika and salt. 

Recipes that helped me the most are:-
1. http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/romesco_sauce.aspx; and

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfwZVZlfSaM by the Culinary Institute of America.

Have fun!