Mixed Grill w/ Romesco Sauce

Recently I went to a blogger's dinner and Marc from No Recipes brought a delicious Romesco dip with grilled spring onions.

I decided to serve this at a spring dinner party I was hosting, along with grilled shrimp, grilled spring onion bulbs and grilled bread for dipping.

Romesco is a traditional pesto type of sauce from the Catalonia region of Spain, made with roasted red peppers, bread and toasted nuts.

I emailed Marc and asked him for his recipe, but since his blog is called NO RECIPES, he didn't have one! He makes it up as he goes along. He gave me his guidelines and I went from there.

I googled Romesco and so many different versions came up.

It seemed that the only major difference in the recipes were the kinds of nuts used.
Most used toasted almonds, but some used toasted hazelnuts.
Some used plum tomatoes, others didn't use tomatoes at all.

I found a great sounding recipe on Dinner with Julie and added a tomato to the recipe.
It was PERFECT. Everyone loved this simple dip. I will be making it all the time.

Romesco Dip (adapted from Dinner with Julie):

2 large roasted red peppers
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1 clove garlic
1 ripe plum tomato
1 tsp salt
2 thick slices from a baguette
1 tsp paprika
about 3-4 tbsp of olive oil

In a blender or food processor, combine all of your ingredients except olive oil.
Puree until it resembles a thick paste.
Add your olive oil at the end and whiz for a few seconds.



Serve with grilled shrimp, grilled spring onions and grilled toasts.

I marinated my shrimp with tails on for about 30 minutes in garlic, olive oil and lemon juice in a ziploc bag. Grill for 3 minutes on each side.



Same goes for the grilled spring onions. They were large, so I sliced them in half and and sprinkled kosher salt and drizzled with olive oil. Grill a few minutes until you get nice grill marks.



Same goes for the bread. Slice your baguette and brush with olive oil. Grill a minute on each side.

Serve the mixed grill on a large platter with the Romesco sauce on the side for dipping!
We ate the leftover sauce on bread the next day and couldn't stop eating it.
It was fantastic!