Roasted Red Pepper-Almond "Romesco"

Guys. Here’s a really good salsa you can throw on literally any grilled thing for the rest of the summer. I’ve used this on sweet potatoes, grilled onion tops (pictured below), eggs on toast, and halibut. It’s slightly sweet and tangy, picante, crunchy from the almonds, and a seductive bright red to add some drama.

This salsa is inspired by a classic Spanish romesco sauce, and salsas made by two of my favorite Mexican chefs — Wes Avila at Guerilla Tacos in Los Angeles, and Elena Reygadas at Mexico City’s Rosetta. I’ve combined my favorite part of these recipes and adjusted some of the ingredients for a slightly chunkier and more tangy salsa. Oh, and increased the quantities of everything because having a lot of this salsa is basically necessary for me.

Provecho!

Yields ~3 cups

1 Tbl canola oil

1/3 cup dried chiles de arbol, stemmed and de-seeded

1 dried ancho chile, stemmed and de-seeded

8 garlic cloves, peeled

1/2 cup whole, raw almonds

1 lb tomatillos, husked and rinsed

1 cup store-bought or homemade roasted red bell peppers

2 springs fresh thyme

1 cup water

salt to taste

1/4 cup olive oil

1.5 Tbl red wine vinegar

Warm a large sauce pan with oil on medium-low heat. When oil is shimmering and moves around easily in a pan, add chiles. When chiles are lightly browned and fragrant, add garlic and almonds and cook for about a minute. (Don’t burn the garlic! If garlic is browning too quickly, turn heat off or take pan off heat and let residual heat cook garlic and almonds.)

When garlic is golden brown, add tomatillos, roasted peppers, thyme, water, and 2 teaspoons of salt to the pan. Cover and cook until tomatillos are mushy, roughly 10 minutes.

Remove pan from heat. Using a slotted spoon, transfer everything to a blender, reserving the cooking liquid in the pan. Add the olive oil and red wine vinegar to the blender. Blend until smooth and season with salt until all flavors are vibrant and balanced. Use reserved cooking liquid as needed to get the right consistency. I like this sauce on the thicker side so it coats the food I put it on; blending it further and adding more reserved cooking liquid will result in a thinner, finer sauce (if you take this route, you might need to add more salt to compensate for the added water).