Romesco
A Catalan sauce of roasted tomato, garlic, almond, hazelnut, dried nyora pepper and olive oil. The default dip for calçots.
Romesco is the iconic sauce of southern Catalonia. The base is roasted tomato, garlic, dried nyora pepper, almonds and hazelnuts, all pounded together with olive oil, a splash of vinegar and a few crumbs of bread or fried bread. The result is brick-red, thick, smoky and faintly tangy. It started as a Tarragona fisherman's sauce served with grilled fish and rockfish stew; modern Catalonia uses it most famously as the dip for grilled calçots. A closely related sauce, salbitxada, is slightly thinner and more vinegary, eaten with the same dishes. Both belong to the broader Catalan picada family of nut-and-bread-thickened sauces.
How it's served
In a small bowl on the side, dipped into with peeled calçots or grilled vegetables. Also served as a sauce for grilled fish, lamb chops or roast vegetables. The texture is meant to be coarse, not silky; you should taste the chopped nuts.
Regional variation
Romesco proper is from Tarragona. Salbitxada is the lighter, vinegar-forward cousin from the same area, eaten with calçots interchangeably. Xató is a related sauce from the Garraf and Penedès, slightly sharper and often paired with cured tuna and salt cod in xatonada salads.
- Origin
- Tarragona, Catalonia
- Etymology
- Possibly from the Latin romanesco, though the precise origin is debated.
Frequently asked
What is romesco sauce made of?
Roasted tomato and garlic, dried nyora pepper, almonds and hazelnuts, olive oil, a splash of vinegar and a little bread or fried bread to thicken. All pounded together in a mortar or processed coarse. The texture should stay slightly chunky, not silky.
What do you eat romesco with?
Most famously with grilled calçots at a calçotada, where you dip the charred peeled onions into a small bowl of romesco. Also served with grilled fish, lamb chops, roast vegetables, and as a sauce for the Tarragona fisherman's stews that originated the sauce.
What's the difference between romesco and salbitxada?
Both are Catalan calçot sauces from the Tarragona area, built on the same roasted-pepper-and-nut base. Romesco is thicker and richer, with more nut and bread. Salbitxada is thinner and more vinegar-forward. Most calçotadas serve one or the other, sometimes both.
Related terms
- CalçotA long, sweet spring onion from Catalonia, charred whole over vine wood and dipped in romesco.
- PicadaA pounded paste of nuts, garlic, parsley and sometimes fried bread, stirred into a Catalan stew at the end to thicken and finish it.
- AllioliPungent Catalan emulsion of garlic and olive oil. Traditionally no egg. Eaten with grilled meats, paella and fish.
- NyoraSmall, round, sun-dried sweet red pepper. The defining ingredient in romesco and a backbone of many Catalan, Valencian and Murcian dishes.