An easy and very affordable Romesco for beginners. It is ideal when you want to make a Romesco for many diners. In this recipe some clams (optional) are added to give it some colour.
Ingredients for 6 people:
• 2 fried dried ancho peppers (see the section How to fry the dried ancho peppers for the Romesco recipes).
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled.
• 1 small peri-peri chilli (expendable).
• 1 sprig parsley, finely chopped (if you have it).
• 10 almonds and 10 hazelnuts. Better if they are roasted, not raw, fried or salty. They must be peeled one by one from the fine dark skin that covers them (blanched).
• 1 glass of white wine.
• 100 g of fresh striped tomato.
• 250 gfinely chopped onion, or even striped.
• 1.5 kg of clean and chopped cuttlefish.
• 500 g. of clams.
• 1 kg of potatoes.
• 850 ml of soft fish stock.
• 90 ml of extra virgin olive oil.
Preparation.
Preparation of the romesco base mix:
• We prepare the small chilli by cutting its upper part and emptying it of seeds.
• Pour the nuts, garlic cloves, parsley, peri-peri chilli, tomato, wine into the blender glass and beat well. The wine serves mainly to dilute the Romesco base mix so that the mixer can work, so the right amount of wine is added to achieve it. Since this recipe uses striped tomatoes, it could be that the necessary amount of wine to add is minimal.
• Now add the fried ancho dried peppers and reduce everything to a fine paste with the mixer.
Preparation of the dish:
• Peel the potatoes and cut them into pieces about the size of a walnut, trying not to cut the whole piece of potato each time, but breaking the last cut with a slight lever with the knife.
• In a separate pan, put the onion to confit over a very low heat with a thread of oil.
• In this recipe we are going to use a 32 cm non-stick casserole. although others can be used. We put in it the cuttlefish and a glass of water (the casserole may be empty or have a thread of oil). Now we must not add salt or pepper.
• For 15-20 minutes we let the cuttlefish cook over medium heat and it will lose all the water. Simultaneously, the onion is confited slowly in the pan.
• When the cuttlefish is dry, add the 90 ml to the saucepan. of extra virgin olive oil and mix.
• Add the Romesco base mixture, mix it with the cuttlefish and fry it for two minutes, stirring from time to time.
• Add the confit onion to the stew and mix well.
• Add the potatoes and broth to just cover the potatoes. We mix, we taste of salt and we add a little pepper.
• Bring it to a boil and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes.
• Add the chirlas and cook covered for five more minutes, seasoning with salt, until the potatoes are done. If it is necessary to add a little more broth (or water), it should be done hot and very sparingly.
• Let it rest off for another five minutes.
• We serve in a bowl with care and patience, trying to have everything in each plate and adding a sufficient amount of sauce.
Variations.
This recipe is very flexible and can be adapted to different tastes. Here are some variations that can be made:
• You can add beef meatballs, or beef and pork meatballs, to this dish to give it a mountain feel. To do this, you can remove from the recipe half a kilo of potatoes and add half a kilo of meatballs, for example. These should be added after frying about ten minutes before the end of cooking.
• If we have it, the spleen of the cuttlefish (also called melsa) can also be added to the stew. This is a very interesting part of the interior of the entrails of this cephalopod, which the fishmonger can reserve for us when cleaning the cuttlefish. We would add the melsa to the stew well dissolved in a little white wine or dry sherry, at the same time as the fried onion.
• Octopus can be used instead of cuttlefish: in this case the recipe would be called Octopus Romesco with potatoes. If you opt for this possibility, it is usually more convenient to use previously cooked octopus, which we can find in fishmongers or supermarkets. For this recipe, 800 g would be enough. of cooked octopus that, cut into small bite pieces, is added to the stew at the same time as is indicated for cuttlefish. In this case, it is ideal, previously, to pass the pieces of cooked octopus on the grill (or frying pan with very little oil), in order to lightly toast their outer skin.
• If it is made with octopus, you could add 450 gof cooked beans instead of potatoes. In this case we will obtain a well-known dish: Octopus romesco with beans.
• It is not recommended to mix octopus with cuttlefish.
• In this disch you can add 200 g of cooked beans coexisrting with the potatoes, as mentioned in the case of the fish Romesco.
• Although the recipe suggests serving in a bowl, naturally another type of plate can be used.
• The proportions of cuttlefish (or octopus) and potatoes can be adjusted to taste. There are those who prefer that the cuttlefish (or octopus) predominate and there are those who prefer that the potatoes predominate.
• The onion can be completely dispensed with.
• In this recipe, the Romesco base mix does not use fried bread, since it is considered that the potato already provides enough thickness. However, if you want to give the stew a slightly thicker touch, just dilute a level tablespoon of cornstarch in a small glass of broth or water (cold), and pour it into the stew halfway through cooking.
• As mentioned in our tricks and tips section, it may be a good idea to fry the potatoes very lightly in the same sauce pan right at the beginning, after adding the oil, adding the romesco base mix later.
Óscar, a supporter of our website, sends us a photo of his wonderful result following this recipe, although he put a lot of own share.
