Category: Dips

Romesco sauce recipe

This is one of many Spanish recipes I picked up whilst working with a top bloke in a makeshift tapas restaurant for about 3 months, he was my head chef and he’d come to England from Barcelona for work.

Romesco sauce is more of a cold dip, but it goes great with most meat especially steak.

It’s nice and easy to make so let’s get to the recipe!

Ingredients (makes about 400g)

  • 200-250g red peppers, roasted. You can roast your own or use ones in a jar from the shop.
  • 100-150g blanched almonds
  • 2-4 plum tomatoes
  • 1-3 tbsp garlic paste, more garlic will give it more heat I usually chuck quite a lot in
  • Either sherry, cider, white/red wine vinegar or lemon juice (1 or 2 tbsp)
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 70-100ml olive oil
  • Handful of fresh basil

Equipment

  • Frying pan
  • Food processor or immersion blender and measuring jug (food processor works best)

Prep and cooking (5-10 minutes)

  1. First you want to lightly toast the almonds so heat the frying pan to a medium-highish heat.
  2. When it’s nice and hot add the almonds and stir/toss them constantly for a few minutes until there’s nicely browned parts on the almonds, remove onto a plate and put to one side.
  3. Drain the red peppers so there’s not too much oil on them and put them in the food processor with the almonds, tomatoes (cut into quarters), garlic, paprika, vinegar and basil. (Everything except the oil).
  4. Blitz until you have a lumpy paste looking concoction.
  5. Leave the food processor running and pour in about 1tbsp of olive oil. After 5-10 seconds (or until the oil is fully mixed in) do this again until you have the consistency you want (the oil will emulsify the whole thing binding it into a sauce/dip)
  6. Add salt and pepper if you think it needs it.
  7. Dip! Or drink?

¿Cuál es la fruta que más se ríe?

La naranja, ja, ja, ja, ja…

Bad jokes aside, romesco is a delicious and easy sauce that can be whipped up in about 5 minutes.

It’s great on a buffet as a dip or you can use it to marinate meat.

Goes well with a bbq 🔥

Chip shop curry sauce recipe


Perfect with some nice chunky chips.

For me this is another big comfort food!

Love it or hate it, it’s a staple when it comes to fish and chips, or more importantly chips.

This recipe is somewhat similar to Chinese curry sauce, but with a slight variation on flavour and a few raisins thrown in.

Ingredients (makes enough for about 6 people)

  • 60g butter for cooking
  • 1 large onion or 2 medium
  • Garlic paste (about 1tbsp)
  • Ginger paste (about 1 tbsp)
  • 3-4 tbsp mild curry powder
  • 1-2 tsp ground turmeric
  • About 50g of raisins
  • 1 star anise
  • 1-2 tbsp of malt/white wine vinegar
  • 500ml chicken or vegetable stock
  • Salt and pepper

Equipment

  • Saucepan
  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • Wooden spoon
  • Measuring jug

Prep and cooking (60-90 minutes)

  1. Heat the butter in a pan, dice the onion and cook for about 5 minutes on a medium heat.
  2. Add the garlic and ginger paste and cook for another 5 minutes. You want to get the mixture nice and soft, but not too much colour developing.
  3. Mix the curry powder and turmeric together with a little bit of water and add to the pan with the star anise, raisins and vinegar. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, be sure to keep stirring so nothing burns to the bottom of the pan.
  4. Add the stock and turn the heat up full to bring to the boil.
  5. When it starts boiling turn the heat down low and simmer for about half an hour, again be sure to stir occasionally to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan and burns.
  6. Take out the star anise and mix 3-5 tbsp of cornflour with some water to make a slurry, add it bit by bit to the sauce, cook for a minute or so before adding any more until you reach the desired thickness.
  7. I like to serve the sauce how it is, but if you want it smoother just put it in a food processor or blend it with an immersion blender.

Costing

Looking at price, I was in the chip shop a couple of days ago and got some curry sauce, it came in the usual polystyrene cup which is guess is about 100ml and it set me back £1.40

The above recipe will cost about £1.80-£2, Working out around 30p a serving!

So quite a saving, but it was a long day, we were all tired, and that’s kind of the point of paying someone else to make food for you(!)

The most expensive components here are the curry powder, butter and stock cubes (for chicken stock, unless you have fresh) do you can cut the cost further by replacing butter with oil, using a bit less curry powder and use 1 less stock cube (I usually use 2-3 for 500ml).

Just remember this will compromise in flavour a slightly on texture, but it can cut the cost to about 20p a serving.

Enjoy!

More recipes soon.

Mayonnaise base recipe


The gloopy gunk that people love, it’s white and spunky,

Yes, it’s mayonnaise of course!

On its own, I can’t stand the stuff, but as a base it’s handy stuff, kind of like food glue.

This recipe is for absolute bog standard mayo with no particular flavour but I’ll mention a bit more on that after, to the recipe!

(If you have a food processor then it will do all the hard work for you here, but keep in mind if you have a large food processor you will probably need to make a larger amount, if you have a small/mini one the below recipe should work fine)

Ingredients (makes about 300ml)

  • 2 egg yolks
  • 250ml oil, olive oil makes wonderful mayo but it’s not cheap, any regular oil like sunflower or rapeseed is great for adding flavours to
  • 2-3 tsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice (you can just use water but it’s not quite as easy)

Equipment

  • Food processor
  • If you don’t have a food processor; a mixing bowl or measuring jug
  • A measuring jug
  • Either a whisk, electric whisk or immersion blender (hand blender)

How to make it (5-10 minutes)

If you have a food processor;

  1. Put the egg yolk in the food processor with the vinegar/lemon juice and pulse until fully mixed together.
  2. Add about 1/2 tsp of oil, pluse for 5-10 seconds or until fully mixed, and repeat. Do this about ten times.
  3. Now start to do the same thing with about 1tsp of oil.
  4. Gradually add larger amounts of oil until you’ve used it all and you’re left with a thick mayonnaise.

If you don’t have a food processor;

  1. Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl with the vinegar/lemon juice and mix well.
  2. Add about 1/2 a tsp of oil and mix until fully incorporate, repeat this about 10 times.
  3. Now do the same thing but with 1tsp of oil.
  4. Keep doing this with increasing amounts of oil until you have a thick mayonnaise.

Things to remember

The acid in the vinegar/lemon juice helps with the emulsification but try not to use too much as it can ruin flavour.

Make sure any oil is properly incorporated before adding any more oil, otherwise it’ll probably split.

Try not to over-whisk, especially with an electric whisk or food processor, as this can cause overheating and again make it split.

Mustard also helps with the emulsification, so if your going to add it I’d recommend putting it in before adding the oil.

When it comes to flavours you can try pretty much anything, different spices and herbs all work well.

Any problems let me know and I’ll try to help!

More recipes soon.

Takeaway style garlic and herb dip recipe


I would class this as a major comfort food but I do love garlic.

Shockingly easy to make, garlic and herb dip goes well with nearly anything, especially any form of potato or a kebab.

Let’s get to it!

Ingredients

  • Mayonnaise (homemade or shop bought)
  • Garlic paste
  • Mixed dried herbs
  • Salt and pepper (optional, I wouldn’t say it needs it)

Equipment

  • Mixing bowl
  • Whisk or wooden spoon
  • Desert spoon

Putting it together (2 minutes)

  1. Put the desired amount of mayonnaise in the mixing bowl.
  2. Put the desired amount of garlic paste in the mixing bowl, I usually go quite heavy on it.
  3. Add dried herbs, it’s easy to overdo as the herb taste can completely overpower everything so it’s best to just add a little at a time.
  4. Mix!
  5. Add salt and pepper if you think it needs it.
  6. Eat a gallon of the stuff.

Where does garlic go for a drink?

The salad bar.

Nope, I don’t get it either, but apparently it’s a garlic joke that I found online.

But there you have it! 4 (or 5(or 6)) simple steps to garlic and herb dip.

Just don’t overdo the herbs, if you want to make your own I’ll be posting a mayonnaise recipe next so keep an eye out.