Give Your Steak A Spanish Twist With A Drizzle Of Romesco Sauce

Classic American steakhouses offer a long list of delicious sauces and garnishes to upgrade your favorite cut of beef. Enhancements traditionally include ultra-rich and creamy sauces like Bearnaise, Bordelaise, compound butter, and blue cheese. Romesco sauce breaks the mold by offering vibrant and piquant flavors to complement your next steak.

Originating in the Spanish coastal town of Tarragona, romesco sauce was initially the favored garnish to drizzle over filets of fish. While recipes differ from region to region, romesco sauce's main ingredients are roasted tomatoes and red bell peppers, almonds, olive oil, garlic, and sherry vinegar. The almonds, garlic, and olive oil blend to create an earthy, nutty, and creamy foundation for smoky, zesty roasted tomatoes and bell peppers and a tangy, sweet finish from the sherry vinegar.

The consistency of romesco sauce is as velvety and substantial as Bearnaise, with a bright reddish-orange hue that'll enhance your steak's presentation as well as its taste. As a classic garnish for fish, romesco sauce has already proven itself a worthy umami pairing. The smoky and full-flavored notes from the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic pair perfectly with a steak's bold umami flavors, while the fat from the almonds and olive oil provide that decadent richness characteristic of classic steak sauces.

Romesco sauce is as versatile as it is delicious, both for pairings and ingredient hacks. For instance, if you don't have the time to roast tomatoes and red peppers, you can use sun-dried tomatoes and canned roasted red peppers. In fact, sun-dried tomatoes pack the strongest umami punch to complement a steak.

While sweet rounded marcona almonds are the traditional foundation for romesco, regular roasted almonds or even hazelnuts are just as effective. Roasted peppers and garlic preclude heavy seasoning, but smoked paprika or red pepper flakes would enhance the smoke and spice notes.Romesco sauce serves a larger range of dietary preferences than its dairy-based counterparts. Carnivores may find this irrelevant for a steak dinner, but vegans and vegetarians will appreciate this sauce spread over roasted cauliflower steaks.

This sauce is really the gift that keeps on giving because you can use it to enhance any dish, from fish and beef steaks to roasted vegetables, pasta, and potatoes. At a steak dinner party, you can drizzle romesco sauce over your beef while serving the rest of it in a sauce bowl for guests to spoon over their scalloped potatoes, crusty bread, and mixed vegetables.