Do you ever go to a new restaurant and it immediately becomes your favorite thing and you want to go there every day of the week? That’s how I feel about Bartaco. I could eat their Roasted Cauliflower and Romesco Tacos all day long and never get tired of them. Unfortunately, I don’t have the budget for that, so I decided to switch things up a bit for spring and make my own Roasted Asparagus Tacos with Romesco at home.
Romesco sauce hails from Spain; the basic components are tomatoes and peppers. Some cooks use almonds to make it, while others prefer pine nuts; purists insist on including a slice of bread, but I’m more likely to skip it unless I happen to have some on hand that I can throw in the mix.
These components alone are all you really need to make a perfect romesco sauce, but I like adding just a bit of heat as well. Here, I’ve used harissa, a Tunisian chili paste. If you don’t have it on hand, a pinch of cayenne or red pepper flakes will do.
Start with a small amount, taste, and add more if you need to. Traditionally, romesco sauce has sherry vinegar added to it, but since harissa has lemon juice for acidity, I leave it out when I’m making this harissa romesco; if you’re omitting the harissa, you might want to add a splash of vinegar.
If you have leftover romesco after making these Roasted Asparagus Tacos, it’s also good with roasted cauliflower or broccoli, braised potatoes, or even tossed with pasta.
Photos by Sunny Frantz
Roasted Asparagus Tacos with Harissa Romesco
Ingredients
- 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
- 1/2 cup raw almonds
- 2 bunches asparagus trimmed and halved
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped roasted red pepper jarred or homemade
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon harissa or to taste
- 12 corn tortillas warmed
- Crumbled queso fresco or feta chopped parsley, and/or lemon wedges for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Line a sheet pan with foil; place the tomatoes on this pan and drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Put the sheet pan with the tomatoes in the oven and roast for 20 minutes. Add the raw almonds to the sheet pan and stir to coat; continue roasting for another 5 minutes, until the almonds are toasted.
- Remove the tomatoes from the oven and transfer them to a food processor. Discard the foil. Toss the asparagus and 1 tablespoon of olive oil on the sheet pan, then place it in the oven. Roast for 10 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking time, until the asparagus is tender but still bright green and crisp.
- While the asparagus is roasting, puree the tomatoes, almonds, red pepper, garlic, harissa, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the food processor until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
- To assemble the tacos, fill each tortilla with asparagus and spoon the romesco over the top. Add other toppings and a squeeze of lemon juice, if desired, and serve immediately.
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