Skip to main content

Cooking in LA. Romesco sauce with asparagus and prawns

I have just returned from a hugely enjoyable but physically punishing four day trip to LA to see my good friend Pricey. Although the length of the journey played its part in that punishment it has to be said that it was due, in the main to the sheer volume of red wine that we also consumed. However I think it is fair to say that we put several of the worlds wrongs to right and shared our own problems both medical, financial and commercial and lets face it a problem shared with a really good friend is a problem much more than halved.
We had several excellent meals at some of our usual hangouts including a particularly fine six hour lunch at S'or Tino to welcome my arrival.
On the Saturday we abandoned our 'divisible by two' approach to dining and we cooked for ten at the Pricey's house, this of course meant that Peter and I could indulge in a day of expensive shopping in some of LA's most excellent emporiums of food including Gelson's and Santa Monica seafood but also a rather fine Italian food importer with a small shop on the back of his warehouse that definitely should one day appear in some LA mob thriller.
Anyway we cooked the old classic, Chicken with fennel red onion and pancetta and Bill's lemon roasted potatoes. To start we had a number of dishes standing at the bar in the kitchen.
One of them was asparagus (and prawns) with Romesco sauce. We grilled both the asparagus and the prawns on the BBQ but the recipe (from the Moro cookbook - with slight amendments by me to accommodate for not having some of the ingredients) below says to boil/steam it. Either way the sauce is definitely a winner and would also work with grilled fish or chicken

A fine evening was enjoyed by all and it ended with Mr and Mrs Price placing a number items on my by then comatose head and photographing it for posterity.... oh and then emailing it to my wife. Thanks

Love you Priceys

Asparagus with Romesco (serves 4)

COOK your asparagus in the normal way. I stand mine upright in a bundle in a tall pan with a lid, in a couple of inches of boiling water, so that the tips steam and the stalks cook right through.


peel the bases with a potato peeler first, breaking off and discarding the woody bits. Six wands per person is enough if they are good, fat stems.

Moro's Romesco

Preheat oven to 350F/180C/Gas mark 4. Romesco is also wonderful with fish, chicken, lamb or grilled baby leeks

Ingredients

* 3.5oz/100g whole blanched almonds

* 2oz/55g shelled hazelnuts

* 1 small dried red chilli, crumbled

* 3 garlic cloves, peeled

* 6 tbsp olive oil

* 2oz/55g stale white bread, cut into .5in/1.5cm cubes (you can toast or fry this first)

* 5oz/140g piquillo peppers, or 2 medium red bell peppers, roasted, peeled and seeded (I used a jar for ease)

* 1-1.5 tbsp red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar, or a mixture of the two

* 1 tsp tomato purée

* 40 strands saffron, infused in 8 tbsp boiling water

* half tsp sweet smoked Spanish paprika

Method

Place the almonds and hazelnuts on a tray, and dry roast in the top of the oven for about 20 minutes or until light golden-brown.

Traditionally, this sauce is made by pounding the bread, nuts, garlic and peppers together in a mortar with a pestle.

I used a food processor. Once you have a coarse paste, transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in the olive oil, half the pepper water, the vinegar, the remaining garlic clove, crushed, the tomato puree, saffron, paprika, salt and pepper.

Taste for seasoning. If the sauce is very thick, add a little water and/or more olive oil.

Romesco can be made in advance.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Crack potatoes courtesy of Ottolenghi. Harissa and confit garlic roast potatoes

Another recipe from Ottolenghi's Simple, another recommendation from Will Saunders.   I know its the middle of summer but who doesn't love a roastie? These little tinkers are so good that they are like crack, class A calories. The clever bit is the addition of semolina and caraway seeds which adds a new level of crunchiness to add to the delicious warm heat of Harissa. Heres the recipe These make a lovely, spicy change from the traditional Sunday roasties. They’re especially good with spiced roast meat. Serves six to eight. 2 large heads garlic, cloves separated and peeled 130g goose or duck fat 4 sprigs fresh rosemary  6 sprigs fresh thyme  2kg maris piper potatoes, peeled and cut into 5cm chunks 40g ground semolina 2 tsp caraway seeds, toasted and lightly crushed 2 tbsp rose harissa Flaky sea salt Heat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2. Put the garlic, fat and herbs in a small ovenproof pan or saucepan for which you have a lid. Cover and roast for 40 minut

Nigel Slaters deceptively brilliant monkfish

Lisa discovered this recipe in her favourite Nigel book. It is one of those fish, 'but not as we know it Jim' recipes. Not just because Monkfish is the fish that can best impersonate meat but also because of the marinade ingredients that are more often featured with lamb. It's not difficult to do but the flavour is a revelation, which makes it a perfect recipe in my book. This can be cooked on a grill pan or a barbecue. Ingredients 3 bushy sprigs rosemary, leaves finely chopped 4 anchovy fillets 2 large cloves garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 large lemon, juice only 3 tbsp olive oil 800g/1½lb monkfish fillet Method Pull the leaves from the rosemary stalks and chop them finely, then tip them into a bowl large enough to take the fish. Rinse the anchovy fillets and smash them to a rough pulp with the flat edge of your chopping knife. Peel the garlic, crush it flat, then smash it to a purée in the same way. Stir together the herb, anchovy and garlic, adding a grind

Sea Bass on mushroom potatoes with salsa Verde

I felt the overwhelming need to cook something new on Saturday night. I didn't want the tired and tested I wanted to explore new culinary waters. However combined with this desire was an equal and opposing force, driven by being absolutely knackered, that meant it had to be simple too. I returned to one of Jamie's early books, to a recipe that IO had meant to do on countless occasions but never quite got round to. I have done several versions of Sea Bass on a bed of potatoes, some that I have written about on this blog. The one question I would have is about the thickness of the potatoes and the length of time they need to be cooked through ... in my oven I reckon they need about 10 minutes more than the recipe suggests. I would suggest a bit of a trial run if you are going to do it for a dinner party ... however once you have given it a whirl I think this makes for a very easy recipe for a crowd. Here's the recipe. Roasted slashed fillet of sea bass stuffed with herbs, bak