The most popular ways to serve classic Romesco with vegetables is with the famous Spanish calçots. Calçots are a variety of longer, thicker and sweeter scallions that are also grown in Tarragona, Catalonia (a perfect local pairing!) and are produced in a very specific and time-consuming way with a season lasting only from January to March. Every January or February the calçots are harvested and many Catalonians celebrate this with a huge calçotada or a kind of calcot fiesta. At this big party, Catalonians sit at long tables and consume pounds of calçots which have been charred on a grill of burning vines and then wrapped in newspapers in order to finish cooking in steam. The participants dip the fleshy, sweet insides of the calçots into romesco and wash it down with copious amounts of red wine. Meat and bread are often grilled right after the calcots are. I am hoping to one day taste these beauties but mostly I’m excited to one day be part of a calçotada.

If you’re interested in learning a bit more about the festivities of a calçotada, check out this great YouTube video. You don’t need to understand Spanish to understand it.

Anyways, back to the meal we made. Earlier I mentioned that I called my sauce a Romesco-esque sauce because I kind of was forced to use what I had in my kitchen. I did not have any of the dried sweet peppers called nyora which are normally used but that was probably because they are very hard to come by here in America. In fact, I didn’t even have the substitute that is often used here such as an ancho pepper, so I used what I had (and, purists, I know you’ll kill me because Romesco should never be spicy but I needed to use up a half of salmonella-free jalapeno). Also, Romesco should always be made with fresh tomatoes and I didn’t have any so out came the jar of crushed tomatoes. I also decided to thinly slice some fennel and an onion and sweat them down slowly in a pan with some olive oil. After a half hour of slowly sweating down, you get the sweetest most delicious “relish” which I topped our grilled fish with as well.

In the end, all the flavors melded together perfectly. Maybe it was the crunchiness of the grilled trout skin, possibly the moist trout flesh mixed with the smokey, sweet and nuttiness of the Romesco-esque sauce or it could have been the bliss of having a bit of crunchy potatoes with the moist fish along with the sweetness of the onion/fennel relish? Whatever it was, this meal was a homerun. I hope you try your hand at making Romesco and maybe you have a good story of attending a calçotada?

Feel free to check two of our good blogger friends version of Romesco – Kalofagas, Nuria’s and Michelle’s.

GRILLED RAINBOW TROUT WITH ROMESCO-ESQUE SAUCE AND FENNEL-ONION RELISH – serves 2

Ingredients for fish and fennel-onion relish:

• 1 whole rainbow trout, gutted and cleaned
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• salt and pepper
• 1 fennel, thinly sliced (use a mandoline – it’s easier)
• 1 onion, thinly sliced (I used vidalia onion for it’s sweetness

Ingredients for Romesco Sauce:

• 6 tablespoons crushed tomatoes (or 4 roasted tomatoes)
• 2 tablespoons Spanish sweet pimenton (or sweet paprika)
• 10 Marcona almonds (if using other type of almond, make sure they have been pan-roasted for a minutes and the skin is removed)
• 1 piece of toasted white bread (crust removed)
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1/2 of a pepper, traditionally a dried red pepper (I used jalapeno – not traditional at all, but gave it a little kick)
• 1/2 head of roasted garlic
• 1 sprig of mint
• olive oil
• pinch of salt

What to do:

1. Heat about 1/4 cup of olive oil in a pan and on medium to medium-low heat, cook your onions and fennel down for about 20 to 30 minutes until very soft and translucent. Do not let them brown and make sure you stir every few minutes.
2. Roast your 1/2 head of garlic in a 475 degree oven for about 15 to 20 minutes (or until soft inside). Allow to cool before using.
3. Make your Romesco by adding the bread, almonds and pepper first and grind up finely in the food processor. Next add the other ingredients (don’t forget to squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skins!) except the olive oil and salt. Blend until smooth. Finally, with the food processor going, slowly add the olive oil in a slow stream until the Romesco is thick and fully emulsified. Taste for salt and add to your liking.
4. Rub your whole fish with the butter and season inside and out with salt and pepper. Throw on a hot grill and cook until firm on both sides (about 5 to 7 minutes per side depending on size of fish).
5. Eat fish whole or fillet the fish and top with some romesco sauce and a tablespoon of the onion/fennel relish. Serve with greens or crispy roasted potatoes. Drizzle some olive oil all over before serving.

Check out some other posts you may enjoy:

• SPANISH (ASTURIAN) OXTAIL WITH FRIED POTATOES
• FUSILLI WITH SALSA DI NOCI AND MUSHROOMS (WALNUT PESTO)
• BRAISED PORK CHOPS WITH LIME AND OLIVES
• Cabrales Cheese: It’s a Bit of an Animal
• Daily Bread: Still Eaten Daily In Some Parts

***No, this is not a grilled-cheese sandwich!

I have to give it up to my favorite cooking mag Saveur (and subsequently the chef who created this recipe, Bruce Sherman of North Pond in Chicago) for introducing me to one of the coolest, most creative and tasty ways to cook fish. In the October, 2007 issue of Saveur, there is a recipe for Bread-Crusted Halibut. When I read the recipe, I got so excited to try it. I had never (nor would ever) thought of utilizing white bread as a way to encrust a fillet of fish – BRILLIANT! First of all, I haven’t purchased a loaf of white Wonder Bread in about, well… hmmm… maybe since college? Actually, screw that. I couldn’t afford a loaf of Wonder Bread in college. I believe the last time I ate the 99 cent special was 1985, until my mom realized it was not as good for us as wheat bread and made us switch.

So there I was in the store, bypassing my stupid (but delish) and ridiculously overpriced $4 loaf of organic whole grain bread, and grabbing the soft, airy 99 cent white-bread loaf. Although I was glad I was saving some dough (no pun intended), I wondered what the hell I was really going to do with 25 slices of uneaten white bread. PB&J for two weeks? Baloney and Cheese? Crutons, anyone? Whatever, for 99 cents I could throw the rest out! (Guess what? I figured out a way to use those extra slices!! See the “Update” down at the end of this post).

The recipe in Saveur called for halibut, but I didn’t feel like biking the 15 blocks to the fish monger so I bought the nicest looking fish at my grocery store, red snapper. You can definitely substitute a fillet of any type of firm white fish for this recipe. And let me tell you, using white bread as the crust for a filet of fish is absolutely delicious. It was buttery and crispy. I highly recommend trying this!!

WHITE-BREAD CRUSTED FISH WITH LEMON BUTTER SAUCE (feeds 2-4)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of snapper (or whatever firm whitefish you choose)
• 4-5 slices of cheap, white bread, crusts removed
• 1 eggwhite
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

Lemon Butter Sauce

• 1/2 of small onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of butter
• Juice of one lemon
• 2 tablespoons cream or sour cream
• Salt

What to do:

1. Slice your snapper into pieces the width of a piece of crust-less white bread. Feel free to use a piece as your ruler.
2. Season your fish with some salt and pepper.
3. Brush one side of the fish with the eggwhite. If using fish with skin, make sure you brush it on the skinless side. (You can use skinless fish or fish with skin on. Just make sure you score the skin to avoid it from curling up when cooking).
4. Press a piece of crustless white bread on to the side of fish you just brushed with eggwash. Press down so it adheres. Do this with each piece of fish.
5. Cut away any of the excess bread that is overlapping the sides of the fish.
6. Meanwhile, make your lemon butter sauce. Saute your diced onion in some butter or oliveoil until translucent. Deglaze with your white wine. Let the wine simmer down until only about 1-2 tablespoons remain. Add the lemon juice and let simmer for another minute or so then add your cream and the butter, allowing it to simmer for a few more minutes so it’s thick. Add a pinch of salt if necessary (sometimes this helps balance out the tartness of the lemon). Keep warm.
7. Now, back to the fish. Heat up a tablespoon or two of butter along with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. When melted, add the fish, bread side down, to the pan. Allow to saute about 2 1/2 minutes on the bread side, then flip to saute the skin side. Cook about 5-6 minutes depending on the thickness of your fish. The bread side should be crispy and browned. If you think it needs more time to brown, allow to saute for another 30 seconds or so.
8. Serve topped with your lemon butter sauce and with your choice of sides. We liked grilled asparagus and roasted potatoes/carrots medley. Enjoy!

***UPDATE: Four days later I had friends over for dinner and ended up using all the rest of the white bread for some appetizers. These appetizers were very gross-looking, very 1950′s, but very delish to eat. You mix about 3/4 of a cup of mayo (I know… it already sounds gross), with a tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce and a good handful of parmesean cheese. Mix. Spread on crustless white bread and toast in oven for 10 minutes. Cut into triangles. Voila!

CHECK OUT SOME OTHER POSTS YOU MAY ENJOY: 

• WHOLE FISH BAKED IN SALT
  
• SWEET ANISE-FLAVORED SALMON IN A POUCH (SALMON EN PAPILLOTE)
• SQUID WITH GOLDEN POTATOES
• COCONUT CHILI SHRIMP WITH ROASTED VEGGIE RICE
• WHOLE FRIED SNAPPER WITH GARLIC AND PARSLEY SAUCE
• Could Cheap White Bread Be the Answer to the End of World Hunger?
• Free Lunch for Inner-City Kids – If It’s Free Does It Have To Be Crap?