The classic sauce: Roasted sea bream with romesco sauce

This sauce is traditionally served with a Spanish spring onion called calçots in its home region of Catalonia (where they also often eat it with fish), but it actually goes with pretty much everything. Try it with grilled leeks, asparagus, steamed purple sprouting broccoli or with pork, steak or chicken. There’s no turning back after you’ve mastered this simple recipe.

A Catalonian romesco sauce is easy and versatile. As here with simply roasted sea bream, it adds richness to any dish. Photograph: Yuki Sugiura for the Guardian

Serves 4
2 large pieces of white bread, crusts removed
5 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed to paste with a little salt
100g almonds, toasted
1 tsp hot paprika
1 tsp sweet paprika
2 ripe plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 piedmont pepper halves, roughly chopped
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
2 tbsp white wine or water
2 whole large sea bream, descaled and cleaned

A few sprigs of thyme

1 Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Rip the bread into small chunks and drizzle 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. Season lightly, then place in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden and crispy. Remove and leave to cool, but keep the oven on.

2 Meanwhile, place the garlic paste, almonds and paprikas in a food processor (or use a pestle and mortar) and grind together, not too finely. Add the tomatoes, peppers and sherry vinegar, then pulse a few times until just combined. With the motor running, add around 3 tbsp of olive oil, or enough to make a coarse-ish paste. Transfer to a mixing bowl and loosen with white wine or water. Adjust the seasoning – you want it to be perky and flavoursome, so adjust the salt or vinegar levels as you see fit.

3 Make a few slashes across the belly of each fish and season all over. Rub with the remaining 1 tbsp of oil and stuff the thyme sprigs inside the cavities. Place in a baking tray, making sure they’re not touching, then place in the hot oven for 15-20 minutes, until the flesh easily comes away from the bones.

4 Crumble the roasted breadcrumbs into the romesco and stir well. Serve with the sea bream and some greens.