Romesco Sauce

This is a Spanish classic - roasted pepper, tomatoes, garlic and almonds are blitzed together with good quality olive oil, sherry vinegar and indulgent fried bread for a luxurious and flavour-packed sauce.

I like to make a big batch of this - mainly because I end up eating a lot of it straight out of the blender! - but also because it's so versatile and it will last in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Here, I served a good dollop of it on top of grilled asparagus and tenderstem broccoli as a starter but it's great with roast meats and fish or even as a simple pasta sauce (but don't tell the Spanish!)

Romesco Sauce

Serves 6-8

2 tsp chilli flakes

½ jar roasted red peppers, drained

3 large vine tomatoes

50ml olive or cold-pressed rapeseed oil, plus a little extra

½ whole head of garlic

50g blanched almonds

1 slice good quality white bread, 2cm thick (I used sourdough)

30ml sherry vinegar

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. 

Wrap the garlic in tin foil then put in a roasting tin with the tomatoes and almonds. Drizzle the tomatoes with a little oil and season well with salt and pepper. Roast in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, removing the almonds after around 5-10 minutes making sure you don't burn them. The almonds should be browned but not black! Once the garlic is cool enough to handle, remove from the skin.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a small frying pan and fry the bread on both sides until golden brown. Put the bread into a food processor with the chilli flakes, roasted pepper, tomatoes, garlic, almonds and vinegar. Add 50 ml of oil and blitz until fairly smooth - I like mine to still have a bit of texture. Season with plenty of salt and pepper and keep in the fridge until needed. You can serve it cold, at room temperature or warmed in a pan with a touch of water to loosen.