Article by Elouise
If you are like me and love a new diet challenge, then you have most likely heard of “The Whole 30” developed by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig. Basically, you muscle up for 30 days and abolish all the good stuff in your fridge and pantry. That’s right, no grains, dairy, legumes or alcohol for 30 days! Now before you go running and screaming to get your fix at the nearest Patisserie or consume a wheel of brie, this sauce can help make your Total 30 challenge totally doable. Even better, it gives you a good excuse to break out the Chanel espadrilles – you’ll need comfortable footwear for all the cooking you’re about to be doing!
I decided to embark on this journey in a bid to improve my health and skin. A rather tardy approach to New Year’s resolution number one, but better late than never right? Anyway, what I have found is that if you are a half decent cook, this diet is actually pretty easy and can make you feel so much better. I am on my 4th week as we speak, and I can tell you that I am sleeping like a baby and wake in the morning feeling refreshed and ready to go. That’s saying something for a working mother of 3 boys who attends 5 rugby matches per weekend and does 15,000 loads of washing per week.
What I have found though, is that you need some emergency snack food that’s full of flavour and makes you think that you are not on a diet. This is where Romesco sauce comes in. I generally love snacking on dips with crackers such as hummus – but no chickpeas allowed! So, I searched for some other dips that I could substitute and Romesco certainly fits the bill. You can make this sauce in about 10 minutes and all you need is a half decent blender. Basically, throw all your ingredients into the blender and blitz for 20 seconds or so and you have a mouth-watering sauce that works with just about everything hot or cold. Right, let’s get to work!
Romesco Sauce
Makes: About 2 ½ cups Shoes: Espadrilles (when in Rome!) Cooking time: 30min
Ingredients
- 3-4 chargilled red capsicums/bell peppers
- 3 tomatoes (you can leave the skins on)
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1tbsp smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 6 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 cup of raw almonds
- 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar
- 1tbsp salt
- ½ small bunch of flat leaf(Italian) parsley
Method
1.Chargrill your capsicum. I use my gas cooktop, but you could also put them in the oven and turn when you see the skin blister and blacken. Once you have done this, put them into a sealed bag and let them cool. The skin will loosen and once they have cooled a little the blistered skin will slide right off.
2. Put all of your ingredients into the blender and blitz. I am definitely a cook that goes by taste, so if you think you need more smoked paprika, olive oil or salt go for it! You can’t really go wrong here, just don’t omit the almonds as they work with the olive oil to thicken the sauce!
3. Enjoy. You can use Romesco as a snack with vegetable sticks or as a sauce for chicken, lamb, beef or fish. Oh, and don’t forget eggs. It is amazing with eggs cooked any way.
Images – Chanel, The Well-Heeled
