Tarragona, home of romesco sauce

People come to Tarragona, about an hour south of Barcelona, for two reasons.  First, they come to visit the city´s many Roman ruins which are scattered throughout and around the city.  In particular, I enjoyed the Roman ampitheater situated right on the beach.

The second reason, however, is the one which drew me to this Mediterranean city:  romesco sauce.  I am in Spain to taste the authentic flavors of the country's best products at their source.  According to David Solé i Torné, author of a book (in Catalan) on romesco and the chef/owner of Restaurant Barquet (C/Gasòmetre, 16, tel. 34-977-24-00-23), romesco is a sauce made in the mortar and pestle whose principal ingredients include locally grown dried romesco peppers (or ñora peppers from the north), local bitxo peppers or cayenne, almonds, hazelnuts, tomato, garlic, bread, olive oil, vinegar, and wine.

Which ingredients are included and the quantities used depend on the main ingredient of the dish and the cook's preference.  It can be used to sauce meat, seafood, vegetables, salads, and even the area´s local rice dishes, which are soupier than their counterparts further south in Valencia.

I dined at Restaurant Barquet last night.  For my first course, I ate an intriguing dish of morralets amb suc, tiny one-inch baby octopuses (octopii?) in a thick tomatoey sauce redolent of the sea.  Amb suc means the same as the French au jus, so the tomato sauce was flavored with the octopus´s own cooking juices.

My main course was a traditional romesco de rap amb patates, romesco of monkfish with potatoes.  Romesco can be a stand alone sauce or it can be a cooking medium, as in this dish.  The flavors of the stew-like romesco were deep and complex, a dance of salty, tangy, lightly spicy, garlicky.  The local whites from the Penedes or the Priorat pair beautifully with these complex seafood stews.

All the house-made desserts were enticing.  I decided on a Chartreuse gelato with marinated peaches and pistachios which nicely cleansed my palate after this rich meal.