Piquillo Pepper Sauce
Salsa de Pimientos del Piquillo

Back to our Spanish Recipes Piquillo peppers are native to the Navarra region in the north of Spain.  The wonderful rich, smoky flavour goes particularly well with simply grilled meaty white fish such as hake or monkfish.  This recipe uses a fish stock to complement a pairing with fish.  However it works equally well with a beef, chicken or vegetable stock.

Difficulty	Cooking Time	Servings
	15min.	6-8 Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 Spanish onion finely chopped
• 1 jar La Buena Vida Piquillo Peppers, drained and cut into strips
• 40 grs plain flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 300 mls good quality fish stock
• Juice of half a lemon
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. In a heavy pan, heat the olive oil, add the onion and slowly cook over a gentle heat until caramelized.
2. Add the piquillo peppers and heat through, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the flour to the pan and mix vigorously with the peppers and onion.  Cook the mixture for 2- 3 minutes over a medium heat.
4. Slowly add the stock a bit at a time to the pan and stir to incorporate. 
5. Once all the stock has been added, cook the mixture gently for 5 minutes.
6. Finally, using a hand blender, liquidize the sauce to a smooth consistency.
7. Add the lemon juice, stir and salt to taste.

Tips and variations

• The sauce can be prepared in advance and reheated just in time for serving.
• A teaspoon of hot, smoked paprika added to a beef stock based sauce works really well with grilled or barbeque steaks.