Romesco sauce is a classic spanish sauce that can be served with everything from vegetables to fish to meat. Me and my girlfriend lived in Spain for 3 months, and during this time I got so much inspiration for food. This recipe combines a powerfully-flavoured romesco sauce with baked chicken, roasted leeks and crusty bread. This is a healthy meal that can be made in under an hour, and it tastes incredible.

Romesco sauce is a traditional sauce made from ñora peppers (a dried spanish pepper), almonds, tomatoes, bread, garlic and vingear. It sounds a bit weird, but it is one of my favourite sauces and can be used in a wide variety of dishes.

I first had romesco when my friend’s Dad brought it over for a BBQ. He smothered it all over barbecued lettuce (which I have never had before) and I absolutely loved it. So I decided to recreate it. However, I found that almost every recipe didn’t follow the traditional methods. This recipe follows Claudia Roden’s recipe from her book called ‘The Food of Spain‘, although I have had to make a couple of changes.

This recipe swaps out the dried ñora peppers for half a red pepper. This is because I have NEVER been able to find them. I don’t know how much this recipe varies in taste from the original recipe, but I think it tastes really good.

This sauce goes really well with veg and chicken, which is why I have paired it wit baked chicken and roasted leeks. Serve this with crusty bread so that you can scrape up any sauce that is left.

Although this is a recipe which features meat, the romesco sauce is vegan. If you want to turn this into a vegan meal, swap the chicken for a range of fresh and roasted vegetables, as the sauce can be used as a really tasty dip.

The sauce takes a little time to make and requires a blender or a stick blender to make. Other than that, it is a really easy and tasty meal.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Baked chicken with Romesco sauce and leeks

Servings: 2

Preperation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For the romesco sauce

• 1/2 a red pepper
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp of vinegar (its supposed to be sherry vinegar, but I use white wine vinegar)
• 1 slice of bread, lightly toasted
• 40g of blanched almonds

For the chicken

• 2 chicken breasts
• Seasoning of your choice

For the leeks

• 2 leeks, chopped in half lengthways and then divided into 4 pieces each
• A little vegetable oil

Directions

How to make romesco sauce

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees (C). Cut up half a pepper and place onto a baking tray with one whole bulb of garlic. Drizzle a little oil over them and season with salt.
2. Place in the oven and cook until the pepper and the garlic bulb to start to soften.
3. Once they have started to soften, place the 6 cherry tomatoes in the oven to roast.
4. Meanwhile, lightly toast one side of bread. Once toasted, put into a bowl and pour over 2tbsps of white wine vinegar.
5. Once the vegetables have roasted (30-40 mins), take out of the oven and leave them to cool so that you can handle them. While you are waiting for them to cool, place the almonds in the oven and roast them until they start to lightly brown (this only takes a couple of minutes so keep your eye on them). Once the vegetables are cool, de-skin the peppers and tomatoes.
6. Once the almonds have toasted and cooled, place everything into a blender and add 4 tbsps of oil. Blend until you have a smoothish paste. If you want a thinner sauce, omit the bread or add more oil. Leave on one side until you are ready to serve.

How to cook the chicken and the leeks

1. If you want to create the whole meal, once you have created the romesco sauce leave the oven on to bake the chicken and roast the leeks. Season each chicken breast with your choice of seasonings (I use paprika, salt, pepper, lemon and basil) and then wrap in foil. Place in the oven at 200 degrees (C) and cook. Cook the chicken for 15-25 minutes, depending on your oven. Make sure that the chicken is cooked all the way through.
2. While the chicken is cooking, place the chopped leeks onto a roasting tray. Season and drizzle with oil, then put in the oven to roast. This usually takes 15-20 minutes. Don’t be afraid to burn the leeks a little, as this gives a really nice crispy texture and charred flavour.
3. Once the chicken is cooked through and the leeks are roasted, spread romesco sauce on the plate. Let the chicken rest for a couple of minutes and then slice, and then place it on the plate with the roasted leeks. Serve with fresh crusty bread.

Tips:

If you want to make a truly authentic romesco sauce, and you have somehow managed to find traditional ñora peppers (let me know how?), omit the red pepper. Put three ñora peppers in water overnight so that they can rehydrate, and when you are ready to create the sauce scrape the skin off the pepper and remove any seeds and stems.

If you have too much romesco sauce, it keeps in the fridge for a couple of days and makes a great snack.

Looking for more recipe inspiration? Try my pea and feta croquettes or mango and feta with lentils.