As already mentioned in the section dedicated to the history of Romesco, on June 20, 1982 a great romescaire event was held in Tarragona in memory of Antoni Alasà (Máximo Burxa). The Tomàs brothers, two renowned local hoteliers, presented a recipe that they called Romesco Sorbet (or Romesco cream), an elaboration that was highly celebrated.
As a regard and a very modest tribute to that creation, a very simple and surprising recipe is proposed below.
Ingredients for 6 people:
• 2 fried dried ancho peppers. See how to fry dried peppers for Romesco recipes.
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled.
• 1 small peri-peri chilli (expendable).
• 1 sprig parsley, finely chopped (if you have it).
• 2 + 6 thin slices of bread from a loaf of 250 g.
• 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).
• 100 g of fresh grated tomato.
• 1 glass of white wine.
• 1.5 l of commercial seafood cream, already prepared (for sale in supermarkets or delicatessen shops).
• 20 ml of extra virgin olive oil.
Preparation.
Preparation of the romesco base mix:
• We begin by opening and cleaning the two dried ancho peppers of their tails and seeds. We put them one by one on a plate in the microwave for about 30 seconds each and at maximum power. We let them cool.
• We prepare the small peri-peri chilli by cutting its upper part and emptying it of seeds.
• Add the tomato, the garlic cloves, the parsley, the chillies, the almonds and hazelnuts, two of the fried bread slices and the wine and mix well. The wine serves mainly to dilute the mix so that the blender can work, so the right amount of wine will be 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 peppers and reduce everything to a fine paste with the mixer.
Preparation of the dish:
• In a frying pan, add the oil and the minced Romesco base and fry it well for three or four minutes over medium / low heat and stirring constantly, so that it reduces and does not burn.
• In a saucepan, pour the seafood cream and warm it over low heat.
• When the seafood cream is slightly hot, add the Romesco sauce and beat everything well with a few rods. We adjust salt and pepper.
• We serve the cream cold, hot or warm (it admits all temperatures, although it may be more original if it is cold).
• Each serving of cream is accompanied by a slice of fried bread, on which a good amount of aioli has been spread.
Suggestions.
• You can also decorate each serving of seafood cream with some peeled prawns that we have previously sautéed, or with some good croutons.
• Dried ancho peppers can also be prepared lightly fried as mentioned in other recipes, thus dispensing with the use of microwaves (see the section How to fry dried ancho peppers for Romesco recipes).
• Naturally, the quality of the base commercial seafood cream will influence the final result, so it is worth trying to make it the best it can be. It should be borne in mind that, sometimes, commercial seafood cream is given other names according to brands, such as lobster cream, crayfish cream, fish cream and prawns, etc. All of these types of creams could be workable in this recipe.
• Obviously, this recipe could also be prepared with a homemade seafood cream.
