1.11.2009

Romesco del Pliny



And now for something completely different... Atheist, deist, scientist, layman, agmystic, whatever - we all gotta eat sometime. Some people pass the olive branch- me I reach for the olive oil... I love to cook and my wife and I both take turns and experiment together trying out new recipes or refining the old staples. This is one is a very reliable fall back for when you just get home from work and don't feel like cooking. No store bought sauce for us! Working together we can churn it out in about 7 minutes. It's extremely simple but very flavorful. Hope you enjoy it.



Romesco del Pliny


10-20 minutes prep time total. A great last minute meal that is always a big hit around our house. Excellent when you are tired and don't want to cook. Much better than standard red sauces. Fairly zippy and can easily be dialed up in heat with more pepper flakes without losing its complex flavor. Serves 3-4 generously and it's pretty healthy as well.

Ingredients
Peppers and tomatoes
  • 1.5 or 2 roasted red peppers, drained
  • Fire roasted diced tomatoes, can
  • Sun dried roma tomatoes (tablespoon or 2)
  • Tomato paste 1-1.5 tbls ( a bit more if you want it really 'tomatoee')
The rest
  • 1 slice firm white sandwich bread, toasted
  • 1/4 cup roasted salted almonds (not smoked)
  • 1 large garlic clove
  • 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon Sherry vinegar, or more to taste
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste (don't skimp)
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes, or more to taste
  • 1/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano plus additional for serving
  • 1 lb corkscrew pasta such as rotini
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Preparation

Begin to cook pasta in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water .

Blend the vinegar, almonds, broth and oil for about a minute (I like the almond texture to be a little less apparent in the final mixture but if you prefer the sause to have even more texture, then do all the ingredients together at one time) then add the torn toast and blend with peppers, tomatoes, salt, and red-pepper flakes in a blender until smooth (1-2 minutes), but not too smooth (the texture is part of the appeal). Transfer to a 12-inch heavy skillet and bring to a simmer.

Add pasta to sauce along with cheese (1/4 cup) and toss to combine. Add additional chicken broth to thin the mixture as you are simming it to thin if necessary. Serve immediately.

You carnivores out there - throw in the sausage, meatballs whatever. Works well with all of it.

16 comments:

pboyfloyd said...

Wow!

I crack open one can of corned beef, one can of Heinz beans in TOMATO sauce and throw some frozen fries into the oven.

Serve with Heinz TOMATO ketchup!

YUM!

Pliny-the-in-Between said...

Well try this one pboy - it may even be better than the heinz beans...

pboyfloyd said...

Blasphemy!

Pliny-the-in-Between said...

ok pboy - based upon your culinary descriptions, my next recipe will be tailored to the more casual cook - hamburgers florentine!

pboyfloyd said...

Ahh, Pliny, I figured you might not get ANY traffic at all on this one so I stuck my two-bits in.

I really DO like the corned beef/beans/fries though.

It's the amount of ingredients makes your dish impossible for me.

My shopping persona would be obliged to beat the crap out of my 'cook' persona with those items on the grocery list, you see.

I'd even go out of my way to cook something like this for Emma but to give you a clue(about her 'tastes', I just yesterday convinced her to try some sour cream and grated cheese on her chili dogs!

Pliny-the-in-Between said...

Ahh, Pliny, I figured you might not get ANY traffic at all on this one so I stuck my two-bits in.

----------------------
You mean people don't blog solely to share recipes? ;)

mac said...

MMMMMMMMMMMM

MMMMMMMMMMMM,

MMMMMMMMMMMM !

Seems very good Pliny.

Unlike pboy, I have become a decent cook lately :-)

Why I even deep fried some chicken just tonight :-)

Richelle said...

YAY recipe swapping!!! i LOOOOVVVEEE trying new things to cook!!

and seeing how i plan on taking this recipe from you, i should share something with you...

let's see.... how about stuffed pork loins?

this is super simple:

get some boneless pork loins (3/4 to 1 inch thick works the best)
a bag of fresh baby spinach, some smoked gouda, bacon, salt and pepper, chopped garlic and olive oil.

cook a few strips of bacon (if the loins are small, one slice per pork loin should be plenty) then chop them up into bits. then take a couple handfuls of the spinach and chop that up. grate some of the gouda and mix with the chopped bacon and spinach. add a little salt and pepper and some chopped garlic and mix it all together.

cut into the sides of the pork loins to create a large pocket to stuff your gouda mixture into. after you're done stuffing, brush the pork with some olive oil and add salt and pepper then cook on the grill or in a pan and you're done.

and i guess if pboy wants to get all culinary and try this out he can substitute bacon bits for the cooked bacon. baby steps, pboy, baby steps.

Pliny-the-in-Between said...

Richelle thanks for the reciprocity! It sounds very gouda....
Could not resist ;)

Let me know how it turns out if you make it

Anonymous said...

MMmmmmm.... sounds good! I'll have my husband do it, he's a much better cook than I.

Try this one pboy! If you can make a tuna fish sandwich - you can do it.

1 boiled chicken breast per serving - everything else is "to taste"

Large croissant - cut to make sandwich
Chicken breast cut into 1 in cubes
pistachios (I like a lot)
dried cranberries
chopped onion
mix together w/ mayo

place on croissant topped w/lettuce and a slice of tomato.

Saint Brian the Godless said...

Bracciola by Brian
(Old family recipe that WORKS like a charm)
(My seventeen-year-old son can't get enough of this stuff)

Ingredients:
-Thin steaks, sandwich steaks are fine, or slice your own off a pot roast or whatever cut you like. THis recipe works VERY WELL for cuts of meat that are not the finest, as it TENDERIZES the steak a LOT.
-Chopped Garlic
-Fresh Parsley
-Salt and Pepper
-Bacon Fat (trim off a regular pound package of bacon)
-And a good tomato sauce, either bottled or home-made... preferably the latter if you cah hack it. I do a mean marinara, meself.

Mix bacon fat, a good amount of chopped garlic, say a teaspoon full, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Use a food-processor to make into a paste. Spread on steaks (thin coating) and then roll steaks like a jelly roll. Use a couple of toothpicks to hold them that way.

Pan-fry steaks, making sure to brown them slightly. Try to eliminate all redness from steaks. This "sets" them so they won't unroll too much even if you remove the toothpicks.

Then either remove the toothpicks and let steak rolls simmer in tomato sauce for an hour or more, or leave the toothpicks in and remove them after the steak rolls simmer in the sauce. They stay together best that way, but I prefer to remove the toothpicks before simmering so that I don't lose any of them in the sauce or forget one of them in one of the bracciolas.

The result is amazing. You'll never eat a meatball again.

Saint Brian the Godless said...

Plus the bracciola (pronounced "brazhola") makes the sauce very garlicky and really tasty. Make sure to simmer for at least an hour, preferably more, up to two hours...

Saint Brian the Godless said...

I find that the chopped garlic available in jars packed in olive oil works just as well as fresh-chopped. Just to save you the labor.

Pliny-the-in-Between said...

Make sure to simmer for at least an hour, preferably more, up to two hours...

----------------
red sauces are the Italian equivalent of Kimchi.... the more you cook them over days - the better they are.

Saint Brian the Godless said...

Salted almonds in a red sauce? Hmmm...

Sounds interesting. Never tried that one before.

Pliny-the-in-Between said...

The almonds are really ground up in the blender but do add subtly to the flavor and texture