Romesco Sauce

Spring and last week the daytime temperature in London came close to freezing. One day it even snowed for an hour; I couldn’t tell you which as they are all, more or less, the same. This sauce packs some welcome heat and goes well with the pork neck recipe that follows.

Makes 2 jars & refrigerated, keeps for a week.

Ingredients:

• 70g blanched almonds
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2-inch left over sourdough, dried out, torn into chunks
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil
• 200g whole piquillo peppers
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 3 tbsp. Jerez vinegar
• tsp. hot smoked paprika 
• ½ tsp Maldon salt

Instructions:

• In a non-stick pan, add a little of the olive oil and in batches, toast the almonds, then the garlic cloves and then the chunks of bread; when each batch is done, tip the contents into a blender
• Add the Navarra peppers to the mix and give it all a whizz
• Now add the remaining ingredients and blend to the consistency you like