Romesco sauce originated from Tarragona, Catalonia. The fishermen in this area made this sauce to be eaten with fish, but I’ll put it on everything from sandwiches to eggs! Traditionally romesco is a quick sauce made in a food processor/blender and uses mostly raw ingredients.  Because my stomach is averse to raw garlic, I chose to cook all the ingredients.

This accidental dish has turned out to be a family favorite! I hope your family enjoys it as well!

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE RECIPE

Servings: 3 to 4

Ingredients:

For the quinoa

• 2 cup of uncooked quinoa
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 4 cups of chicken stock
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1/4 cup of grated parmigiano cheese
• 5 scallions thinly sliced

For the Chicken and Sauce

• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 6 chicken thighs, (skin on, but trimmed)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 medium yellow onion sliced
• 6 garlic cloves smashed
• 1- 12oz jar of piquillo peppers (rinsed) Note: you can substitute piquillo peppers with roasted red peppers
• 1- 24oz box of San Marzano fire roasted tomatoes (or any can of fire roasted canned tomatoes)
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp of cumin
• 1- 7oz can of chipotle chili in adobo sauce (can be substituted with 1/4 tsp of cayenne)
• 1/2 cup of roasted almonds

Let’s Cook:

1. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a large pan.
2. Once the pan has reached a medium/high heat, add the chicken thighs skin side down. Cook for about 4 minutes on each side. Note: Be sure the skin on your thighs have a nice deep brown color before you flip them.  
3. Remove the thighs from the pan and set aside. Lower the heat to medium/low
4. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil ,then garlic, onion and 1 tsp of salt.
5. Once the veggies are translucent add the rinsed piquillo peppers, fire roasted tomatoes, cumin and smoked paprika.  Stir the sauce and increase the heat to medium.
6. Place the chicken (skin side up)back in the sauce and allow the chicken to cook in the sauce for 25 minutes. If the sauce begins to bubble lower the heat to medium/low.
7. While the chicken is cooking combine quinoa, chicken stock, 1 tsp of salt and butter in a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil then lower heat to a simmer until all the water is gone (about 15 minutes).
8. Mix grated cheese  into the quinoa and fold in the sliced scallions. Note: I usually wait until my quinoa has cooled a bit before adding the scallions so that they stay crunchy
9. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the sauce.
10. In a high-end blender (one that can puree nuts) add almonds, 1/2 of the liquid from the canned chili in adobo, 1 Tbsp of olive oil and the sauce from the pan you just cooked the chicken in. NOTE: If you like it hot you can add one or two of the actual chipotle chilis from the can. Also if you don’t have a high end blender, you can use sliced almonds.
11. Blend all ingredients on high until the sauce is nice and smooth.

Click on link below for plating instructions

https://vimeo.com/319501999