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Evoke a restaurant experience by serving your grilled asparagus on top of delicious Spanish Romesco sauce with creamy burrata on the side. Transform humble vegetables into something exciting with this simple yet impressive presentation!

Add our chorizo with red wine and patatas bravas to the mix and host a fun Spanish Tapas night!

top down view of grilled asparagus on top with romesco sauce and burrata cheese on a brown plate

Do ever surprise yourself by how much you enjoy humble vegetables in a restaurant while the same thing just doesn’t seem exciting at home? Well it all depends on how they are served and presented!

Let me show you a couple of tricks, that will bring your veg game to a new level. I am using grilled asparagus as an example. However you can use broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini or anything you love!

Sauce for Vegetables

I find that vegetables, served with sauces, are always much more delicious and enjoyable. Take this recipe of roasted asparagus with a luxurious Mornay sauce for instance. A dish fit for a festive table!

Another goodie is a recipe for mushrooms with creamy Marsala sauce. It goes so well with steak. My roasted carrots with lemon tahini sauce are always the first ones to disappear off the table.

Those sauce are divine but they are quite rich. Not something I want to eat in the summer. Romesco sauce is another matter entirely. Hailing from the sunny Spain, this sauce simply screams summer.

Romesco Sauce

If I had to describe what this sauce is like I would say it’s the Spanish answer to Italian pesto. The sauce comes from the Catalonia region of the country, and was originally created to serve with fish.

It turns out the sauce is good with many other things, and grilled or roasted vegetables are at the top of my personal list. I also love it with roasted or air fried potatoes and gnocchi. To this day, Romesco sauce is enjoyed with a variety of foods like grilled meat, fish, seafood and vegetables. It is crazy versatile and easy to fall in love with.

The recipe is extremely easy. All you need to do is to combine roasted red peppers, a spoonful of tomato paste, almonds, garlic, sherry vinegar, This is an affiliate link.smoked Spanish paprika and good quality This is an affiliate link.extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and blend it all together in a This is an affiliate link.food processor or a blender.

top down view of romesco sauce in a glass jar

Recipe Tips and Notes

As I mentioned above the main ingredient, which gives the sauce its colour, comes from roasted red peppers. You can roast your own but I prefer to use a shortcut. I get mine from a jar.
Apart from the main ingredients of the red peppers and almonds, the flavours come from a tomato paste, vinegar and garlic. I provided proportions, which suit my taste. However you can increase or decrease the amounts of garlic and vinegar. Start on the conservative side and add more if the taste is lacking.
Grilled asparagus takes mere minutes. You want it to be charred but still firm to the bite. For thin spears, 5-7 minutes are more than enough. Don’t forget to keep turning them with a pair of tongs for even grilling. If your asparagus is extra thick, add 2-3 minutes to the cooking time.
Finally, I drizzled the burrata and the asparagus with a touch of chilli oil, which added a nice hint of spice to the whole dish. I used This is an affiliate link.Chinese chilli oil I had in my fridge. However, you can keep the spice out and use a good quality extra virgin olive.
If you are not a fan of burrata, you can use a large dollop of creamy ricotta or even feta in this dish.

Serving suggestsions

I can’t get enough romesco sauce, so prepared my plate with a generous heap, layering the asparagus on top. The burrata crowns it all so the creamy inside can spread out when it is opened up.

A drizzle of olive oil and chilli oil along with flaky salt finishes things off.

I usually serve this dish as a starter with a few chunks of crusty bread, but it works equally well as a side dish. Perfect as part of a barbecue spread!

Storage and leftovers

If you have any leftover, it’ll be best to store the romesco sauce and asparagus separately in airtight containers. Both will keep for 5 days in the refrigerator.

Romesco sauce is very versatile, as mentioned above, so well worth making a little extra to keep around for future meals. Adding a thin layer of olive oil to the top of the sauce when storing it can keep it from drying out, although this isn’t strictly necessary.