Name: Toasted Hazelnut Romesco Dip (Romesco de Avellanas)
Yield: Makes about 1½ cups
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: 1 medium-size dried ñora pepper or ancho chile, stemmed, seeded, and torn into small pieces; ⅔ cup hazelnuts, toasted and skinned (see; see Note); 2 large garlic cloves, peeled; 1½ tablespoons toasted bread crumbs; Coarse salt (kosher or sea); 2 tablespoons best-quality red wine vinegar, or more to taste; 1 tablespoon sweet (not smoked) paprika; 1 small ripe plum tomato, chopped; 6 tablespoons fragrant extra-virgin olive oil; ⅛ teaspoon cayenne, or more to taste

Preparation info

Makes about
1½ cups

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The New Spanish Table

By Anya von Bremzen

Published 2005

About

I can’t imagine a tapas bash without at least one dish accompanied by romesco, the famous pepper and nut sauce of the Catalan Tarragona province. In that region, one encounters dozens of variations on romesco, with ingredients that vary slightly, depending on how the sauce will be served. The version here—zesty with raw garlic, puckery with vinegar, and subtly spicy with dried chile—makes an ideal dip for crunchy green crudités, such as celery sticks, fennel sticks, or endive