Salvitxada Catalana

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small roasting tray
• •Heavy frying pan
• •Large mortar and pestle, or food processor
• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Measuring jug

Instructions

1. 1

   Soften the ñoras

   Put the stemmed and seeded ñoras in a bowl and cover them with very hot water. Hold them below the surface with a small plate and leave them for 30 minutes. Drain, open them flat and scrape the softened red flesh from the skins with the back of a knife. Keep the flesh and discard the tough skins.

   Scrape patiently and don't grind the skins into the sauce. Ñora skin stays leathery however long you process it.
2. 2

   Roast tomato and garlic

   Heat the oven to 220°C, or 425°F. Set the whole tomatoes and unpeeled garlic head on a small roasting tray. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, turning the tomatoes once, until their skins split and blacken in patches, their flesh begins to collapse and the garlic feels soft when pressed. Cool just until you can handle them. Peel and core the tomatoes over a bowl so their juices are saved, then squeeze the soft garlic from its skins.

3. 3

   Toast nuts and bread

   While the vegetables roast, put the almonds and hazelnuts in a dry frying pan over medium-low heat. Toast for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring often, until golden and fragrant. Tip them out immediately. Add 15ml of the measured olive oil to the pan and fry the bread for 2 to 3 minutes, turning until crisp and golden on both sides. Let everything cool.

   The nuts continue browning in a hot pan after the heat is off. Tip them onto a plate as soon as they smell toasted, or their bitterness follows them into the whole bowl.
4. 4

   Build the picada

   Pound 6g of the salt with the roasted garlic in a large mortar. Add the ñora flesh, then the toasted nuts and fried bread, working everything into a coarse picada, the pounded nut base. Add the peeled tomatoes and 35ml of the vinegar, then pound until combined but still faintly grainy. If using a food processor, pulse in the same order and stop before the nuts become a smooth paste.

5. 5

   Work in the oil

   Add the remaining 225ml olive oil gradually, stirring firmly with the pestle or running the processor on low. This slow addition is the step that holds the tomato, nuts and oil together while keeping the sauce rough enough for a calçot. Add 15ml cold water and mix. If it does not fall from a spoon in a heavy ribbon, add more water 15ml at a time, using no more than 45ml altogether.

6. 6

   Rest and adjust

   Leave the salvitxada covered at room temperature for 30 minutes so the ñora, garlic and vinegar settle into the nuts. Stir well, then taste with a piece of bread or, better, a grilled calçot. Add the reserved 5ml vinegar if it tastes heavy, and up to the remaining 2g salt if needed. Serve at room temperature in a wide bowl for dunking.

Chef Tips

• •Ñora is a small, round dried pepper with sweet flesh and very little heat. If you can't find it, use two dried pimientos choriceros weighing about 20g altogether. Soak and scrape them in the same way; the sauce will be darker, fleshier and less sweet.
• •Calçot season falls in the cooler months, so the tomatoes needn't be August beauties, but they must have some weight and scent. Roasting concentrates a decent winter plum tomato. If yours are pale and watery, use 400g well-drained canned whole plum tomatoes and roast them for 20 minutes; the sauce will be softer and miss a little of the fire-roasted edge.
• •Arbequina olive oil suits this Catalan sauce because it is fruity and gentle. A very bitter oil can bully the ñora and nuts, so taste the oil before you commit nearly a quarter litre of it.
• •Use plain red wine vinegar, not a sweet vinegar. The acidity should cut through the nuts and charred calçot without announcing itself first.
• •A food processor is allowed. Pulse the solid ingredients, then add the oil slowly on low speed. A high-speed purée erases the faint nutty grain that tells you this was a picada before it became a sauce.
• •Serve salvitxada at room temperature. Refrigerator-cold oil feels heavy and mutes the roasted garlic, while a warm sauce can separate.

Advance Preparation

• •The ñoras can be soaked and scraped, and the tomatoes and garlic roasted, up to one day ahead. Refrigerate them in separate covered containers and bring them close to room temperature before pounding.
• •The finished sauce is very good made one or two days ahead. Refrigerate it promptly in a covered container, then bring it to room temperature and stir firmly before serving. Loosen it with 15ml cold water if it has thickened.
• •Keep leftovers refrigerated and use within four days. The sauce contains roasted garlic and oil, so don't leave it stored at room temperature.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 85g)