Scallops with Roasted Catalan Sauce | José Andrés

We are welcoming José Andrés as the current featured chef at I Heart Cooking Club whose members will be cooking and blogging his recipes. Very few chefs show up on the covered pages of Time magazine. By all measures, José Andrés is more than a chef or a restaurateur. He is a humanitarian who founded World Central Kitchen, a non-profit which organizes meals and addresses natural and humanitarian crisis around the world. Besides, José Andrés personifies the power of food. There is much to learn and to embrace: his vision, his food and his recipes, starting with scallops with roasted Catalan sauce, aka romesco sauce.

To know Andrés is to start at his childhood home base in Catalonia, Spain. Subsequently, he went to culinary school in Barcelona. It also happened to be where I learned and tasted for the first time the romesco sauce. (In many ways, romesco reminds me of another popular sauce, the Italian pesto sauce.) All the ingredients are blended together in a food processor or a Vitamix. Flavor development starts from preparing and elevating the base ingredients.

There are distinct preliminary steps. First, roast the vegetables (bell pepper, tomatoes, garlic and onion) which takes about 25 minutes. The idea is not just cooking the vegetables, but to soften the skins, remove them and get the vegetables ready for the final blending. Actually, the process involves less work overall. There is no cutting and peeling involved and forgo the extended braising necessary for flavor development. What a smart and efficient way to get started!

Next step is to hydrate the dry chili peppers, seeds removed and pureed. Then toast the blanched almonds. Remarkably, the toasted almonds give off a warm nutty flavor in the kitchen, suggesting a beautiful sauce in the making. Finally, there is the toasted bread, which I thought I can skip. But the sauce needs thickening and the piece of bread does that.

The result is a romesco that is smoky and pungent from the charred tomatoes and roasted red peppers, puréed and thickened with toasted almonds and bread. The flavors are further sharpened with the addition of chili, garlic and vinegar. Adjust the heat to your liking. I serve it with scallops for dinner. Romesco will go well with any mild-mannered vegetables and fish. It’s good on a piece of toasted bread brushed with olive oil and rubbed with tomato and more garlic — the Spanish way.

Sherry vinegar is not the usual item stocked in my pantry. Looking through José Andrés recipes, sherry vinegar shows up in a lot of places. I invest in a good-sized bottle from Spain which supposedly imparts a sharp and tangy flavor, and not as sweet as the Pedro Ximenez sherry vinegar — but good for cooking. I look forward to tackling recipes guided by the vision of José Andrés and the taste of Spain.

Print Recipe

Scallops with Roasted Catalan Sauce

By Jose Andres – Serves: 4-6

Romesco is one of Spain’s greatest sauces. It originated in Tarragona, but I’m sure it will soon find its way into all corners of the U.S. It is a wonderful match for vegetables, seafood and meats. This is one of my favorite ways to serve it, with plump, seared scallops. This recipe makes a big batch. The sauce can be made ahead and kept in the fridge for a few days.

Ingredients

• FOR THE ROMESCO SAUCE:
• ½ cup José Andrés Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus extra for coating the vegetables 
• 1 red bell pepper 
• 6 ripe plum tomatoes 
• 1 head garlic, halved, papery outer skin removed 
• 1 Spanish onion 
• 3 ñora chile peppers (or any other dried sweet chile pepper) 
• ¼ cup blanched almonds 
• 1 ounce white bread, crust removed 
• 1 tablespoon José Andrés Reserva Sherry Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon pimentón (Spanish sweet paprika) 
• ½ tablespoon salt 
• FOR THE SCALLOPS:
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, preferably José Andrés Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 8 large sea scallops 
• Salt, to taste 
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 

Instructions

1

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

2

ROAST THE VEGETABLES: Brush a thin film of olive oil over the pepper, tomatoes, garlic, and onion and lay them on a roasting pan. Roast for about 25 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft. Remove from the oven and once cool enough to handle, peel the pepper, tomatoes, garlic, and onion. Seed the pepper and tomatoes and cut off their tops.   

3

PUREE THE CHILES: Meanwhile, place the ñora chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water. Soak for 15 minutes. Strain, and remove the seeds from the peppers. Place the chiles in a blender and purée until smooth. Pass the purée through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl and set aside. 

4

TOAST THE ALMONDS: Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a small sauté pan over low heat. Add the almonds and sauté them until golden and fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer the almonds to a bowl and set aside.   

5

TOAST THE BREAD: Raise the heat to medium and add the bread to the same sauté pan. Toast the bread until golden brown, about 30 second on each side. Remove the bread and set aside. 

6

MAKE THE SAUCE: Add the puréed ñora chiles to the sauté pan and cook for 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat. Then place the peeled roasted vegetables into the blender. Add the almonds, toasted bread, toasted ñora chile paste, vinegar, pimentón, and the remaining 7 tablespoons of olive oil. Blend into a thick sauce and add salt, to taste. Pour the romesco sauce into a bowl and set aside. 

7

SEAR THE SCALLOPS: Heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and when hot, add the scallops and sear on both sides, until the scallops are just cooked and slightly opaque, about 30 seconds on each side. Season with salt, to taste, and set aside.   

8

SERVE: To serve, spoon some romesco sauce onto a serving plate. (Reserve the remaining romesco sauce, covered in the refrigerator for up to three days, for another use). Place the seared scallops on top. Drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and garnish with parsley. 

Notes

https://joseandres.com/recipes/scallops-with-roasted-catalan-sauce/