Romesco Sauce and Ethiopian Vegetable Stew

My ersatz Ethiopian vegetable stew and the romesco sauce were the two menu items that I got the most questions about this weekend, so I thought I would share them with you.

I based the vegetable stew on a recipe that my friend Rebecca had recommended.  We made it a few weeks ago and loved it.  At this time of the year it's good to have recipes using things like carrots and cabbage.  I loved the flavors of it and thought that maybe it could be expanded into more of a stew or soup (I'm never sure where it crosses from one to another).  You can find the original recipe (which is great) here.  Below is my interpretation.

ETHIOPIAN VEGETABLE STEW

4-5 medium yellow onions (the smallish ones that come in the mesh 3 lb bags) sliced thin and cut in half into semi-circles.

a bunch of carrots (5 or 6) sliced

cook in olive oil for about five minutes

add:

one half a cabbage chopped coarsely

roughly 1 T turmeric

roughly 2 T ground cumin

salt/pepper/red pepper flakes to taste

cook another 15 minutes or so then add:

one can diced tomatoes (obviously fresh if you have them)

one bunch of kale slivered

3 cartons of vegetable stock (of course it would be better with homemade but....)

4-6 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into bitesize pieces.

Simmer until the potato is cooked through.

It's so simple and I fought hard not to add a little of this, a little of that.  That's one of the hardest things for me----to keep from muddying things with too many additions.  Anyway.....this was wonderful, there is something so warming and memorable about the turmeric and cumin together with the sweetness of the vegetables....

ROMESCO SAUCE

There are many versions of this Spanish sauce.  I got this one out of Susan Wyler's Cooking for a Crowd (2005).

3 medium red bell peppers

3 plum tomatoes

1 cup natural whole almonds (about 5 oz)

6 garlic cloves

2/3 cup fruity extra-virgin oliv oil, preferably Spansih

1t whole cumin seeds

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

2 t bittersweet or hot pimenton (Spanish smoked paprika) or ½ t crushed hot red pepper

2 t sea salt

 The original recipe calls for fresh tomatoes and peppers---roasting and peeling the peppers,etc.  Given that it's March I used jarred roasted red peppers and canned plum tomatoes.  We bought raw almonds, boiled them for a minute and then squeezed the skins off but of course you can buy them blanched as well.

Toast the almonds until golden and fragrant, 8-10 minutes at 375. I made Ernie do this as I am notorioius for burning things like pine nuts.....

Cook the garlic in the olive oil over low heat for 9 minutes, add cumin seeds, cook 30 seconds, remove from heat and cool slightly.

Add the lemon juice, paprika and salt to the blender (I used a food processor but the blender might be better).  Puree the vegetables until coarsely chopped.  Add the olive oil, garlic and cumin seeds to the puree.  With the machine running, add the almonds.  Puree until as smooth as possible.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This would be fabulous with almost anything although seafood seems particularly perfect.  Given that I was serving it as a dip I increased the amount of almonds which made it a little chunkier and less smooth.  The color of the thing is just so stunning----brilliant red-orange!

I don't have pictures so I'll just post a picture of the crowd.  I love Ray sitting there with his two boys....  You can see the romesco sauce with the ends of the pita chips in the foreground.  Enjoy!