Roasted asparagus romesco

If necessary, thin the sauce with a little water.

Sauce

1	Long red chilli, use up to 2 (Main)
4	Plum tomatoes (Main)
½	Red capsicums
75 g	Ciabatta bread, or french bread, crusts removed (Main)
⅓ cup	Extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves	Garlic, choose large ones, halved (Main)
1 Tbsp	Pine nuts, toasted (Main)
1 Tbsp	Red wine vinegar
½ tsp	Smoked paprika

Asparagus

20	Asparagus spears, trimmed (Main)
2 Tbsp	Extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. To make the sauce, char-grill the chillies, tomatoes and capsicum until blackened all over. Wrap in baking paper and cool.
2. Peel and deseed the chillies and capsicum. Remove the core from the tomatoes. Place all three in a food processor.
3. Cut the bread into chunks.
4. Heat the oil in a small frying pan and fry the garlic cloves until golden. Add to the food processor.
5. Fry the bread cubes until golden. Cool then add to the food processor with the pine nuts, vinegar, smoked paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Blend until chunky.
6. Preheat the oven to 200C. Toss the asparagus and in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 10-15 minutes until crisp-tender.
7. Serve warm or at room temperature topped with the sauce.

See more of Jan's festive sides and salads

• Potato salad on sticks
• Spiced couscous