oil from an oil dispenser, but drop by drop for the first steps of the process. Next
go on adding oil, but always with extreme care, that is, a fine drizzle of oil. You
will see that the sauce starts to thicken and to get clung around the pestle and
to form a single mass. At this point, don't add more or it will turn into a liquid
oily sauce (cortarse el allioli).
As to the light version of this sauce, do as follows:
Pound two or three garlic cloves, cut into slices, with the salt to get a fine paste;
next add an egg yolk and mix it all with the pestle. From that point on, proceed
as explained before with regard to the addition of oil. Some people use a handblender, with all the ingredients put in a mixer vase and the blades right on the
bottom of the vase, but, to me, a lot of practice is needed.
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Biscay Sauce (Salsa Viscaína) Recipe provided by the Cooking School, IES
Escuela deHostelería de Leioa.
Ingredients for 1/2 liter of sauce: 3 large onions, finely chopped; 3 dried
sweet chorizo peppers, previously soaked in warm water for a few hours so the
pulp can be scraped off; 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 3 tsp of flour; 1 carrot; 1
l of chicken/veggies stock.
Preparation: Simmer the onion and the garlic until both changes their color and
then add the pepper pulp. Next add the flour to build a roux-like paste, add the
stock (fish or meat or veggies, depending on the future use of the sauce), and
simmer for some mins until it thickens while stirring it all continuously to make
an homogeneous sauce. Mix it all with a hand blender and strain through a
china cap.
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Romesco sauce (Salsa Romesco)
Romesco is a sauce from Tarragona (in Northeastern Spain). It is said that the
fishermen of the area used it with fish. It is also great with seafood, but it is
mostly used with meats and to dress some salads. It also can be used as
already-made sofrito to prepare some rice recipes.
Ingredients for around two cups of romesco: 12 skinned almonds; 10-12
hazelnuts; 1 garlic bulb, (rub the white flossy skin off) ; 1 slice of dried-out bread
fried in some olive oil; 2 ripe medium size tomatoes, or 1 large tomato; 2
large roasted red peppers, well-drained; 1cup of extra virgin olive oil; 1/2 cup of
red wine or sherry vinegar.
Note: Add approximately 15 minutes to the preparation time if blanching
almonds. This romesco sauce recipe makes about 2 cups of sauce.
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