Grilled Marinated Potato Slices, Green Onions, and Romesco Sauce

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by Marlena Spieler
from Yummy Potatoes: 65 Downright Delicious Recipes
(Chronicle Books, 2007)
Serves 4 to 6

Slices of meaty, earthy potatoes, preboiled for inner fluffiness, are brushed with an extra-virgin olive oil marinade, and grilled to utter crispness. Barbecuing slabs — steaks, really — of lightly boiled, marinated floury potatoes gives a delicious result, like no other. Serve with whole green onions if you like, and Romesco Sauce, the traditional Catalan accompaniment to the onions.—Marlena Spieler

convert Ingredients
For the romesco sauce
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
3 to 4 tablespoons fresh bread crumbs
3 to 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/4 cup dry-roasted almonds
3 tomatoes, fire-roasted (from a can is fine; otherwise, roast over a barbecue or under a broiler until the skin is charred and the tomatoes collapse)
1/2 to 1 red bell pepper, fire-roasted
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chile powder, such as ancho or New Mexican
1/2 teaspoon Spanish sweet paprika (pimentón)
About 1/4 cup tomato juice (from the tomatoes you have used, or bottled)
1 to 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
Salt

For the potatoes
1 1/2 pounds large baking potatoes, such as russet, peeled
Salt and pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
1 bunch green onions, trimmed to tidy up the rough ends
Romesco Sauce

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Directions
Make the romesco sauce
1. In a heavy skillet, heat a tablespoon or two of the olive oil and toast the bread crumbs until they are lightly golden and crisp. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

2. In a food processor, purée the garlic, then add the almonds and purée them into a fine-ish mix. Add the bread crumbs and whirl again; it will be a gritty mixture. Add the tomatoes, red bell pepper, chile powder, and paprika, and whirl together until it thickens; add enough of the tomato juice to give it a juicy, creamy consistency, then gradually add a few tablespoons of the olive oil, as desired. It should be a thick, emulsified sauce.

3. Add the vinegar and salt to taste, and whirl again. Add a few tablespoons of cold water if the mixture needs smoothing out, or another slosh of vinegar or tomato juice if the mixture needs either a tart edge or a tomato sweetness. Chill until ready to use.

Make the potatoes
1. Parboil the potatoes in salted water to cover, at a gently simmering boil, until they are half cooked: tender on the outside but a bit crunchy when you reach the center. Drain and set aside.

2. When cool enough to handle, slice the potatoes lengthwise into steaks about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick, taking care to keep the potatoes in big thick slices; do not let them fall apart unnecessarily or they will fall through the spaces on the grill of the barbecue. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme, and lemon juice, and then drizzle lightly with olive oil as needed. Set aside.

3. Heat the barbecue or stovetop grill; when hot, barbecue the potato slices and whole green onions until they are charred here and there, and tender but not overcooked.

4. Serve the hot grilled potatoes and green onions with the Romesco Sauce.

Recipe © 2007 by Marlena Spieler. All rights reserved.