Kaoru: Romesco Sauce

I decided to make the Romesco Sauce tonight so that I would have little to do tomorrow. My sauce turned out runnier than I would have liked, (too many tomatoes? too much olive oil? pureed too long?) but tasty nonetheless. It's slightly sweet, very nutty & rich. I have a hunch it will go equally well with fish, as with chicken (similar to the chicken in mole sauce Jer made when I visited).

Shopping: Definitely a bit of a hunt. Who knew how challenging it would be to find fire-roasted piquillo peppers? I also learned that hazelnuts are a.k.a. "filberts". Who knew?!?!

Cooking: Preparing the individual components of the sauce was incredibly satisfying. My ancho chile pepper yielded absolutely no flesh however, so I tossed in chunks of the entire thing (thanks Julie for the idea). Also, I substituted balsamic vinegar (for aged dry sherry) - turned out just fine. Finally, since my "filberts" weren't blanched already, I looked up how to blanch them myself. See below.

Blanching "filberts":
- Toast @ 350* for 10-15 min, stirring occassionally. Remove from oven.
- Place on terry cloth towel & cover nuts with the towel. Let sit ~10 min.
- Once nuts are cool, rub towel/nuts together until the thin, brown outer skin breaks off.

Tomorrow: Hit fish market, see how sauce flavors have settled overnight, prep fish, eat!