Halibut in Hazelnut Romesco Sauce

Because Mark Bittman raved about piquillo peppers, I bought a jar. It sat in my kitchen for a year. A few days ago I went to Epicurious.com and typed in "pequillo peppers". A few recipes came up and I chose this one. It is a keeper-tasty, a beautiful rosy color and not too involved. Two confessions, though.

Halibut was $30/pound in Citarella's. I bought hake.

I still have a half filled jar of peppers in my fridge.

1 large tomato

1/2 cup husked toasted hazelnuts

1/2 cup coarsely chopped drained piquillo peppers from a jar or can

4 tbl. extra-virgin olive oil, divided

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. Sherry wine vinegar or red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

4 6 ounce halibut fillets

1/2 cup low salt chicken broth

12 baby Yukon Gold potatoes, halved, steamed until tender or steamed rice

Chopped, fresh parsley (optional)

Preheat broiler. Place tomato on rimmed baking sheet and broil til skin is blistered and slipping off, turning once with tongs, about 3 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel skin off, then cut tomato in half and squeeze out seeds.

Chop nuts in processor; add tomato, piquillo peppers, 2 tbl. olive oil, garlic, paprika, vinegar, salt and cayenne, then puree. Transfer romesco sauce to bowl. Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

Add the remaining 2 tbl. oil to large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add halibut and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side(fish will not be cooked through). Transfer halibut to plate.

Add broth to same skillet and bring to boil; stir in romesco sauce. Add halibut; reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer until halibut is opaque in center, about 2 minutes. Transfer halibut to plates. Place steamed potatoes or rice alongside. Spoon romesco sauce over; sprinkle with parsley, if desired.

Serves 4

Notes: I used the toaster oven to roast the tomatoes. Canned fire-roasted tomatoes should also work well. If you don't have piquillo peppers, don't fret. Regular jarred roasted peppers will be fine. Ditto the smoked paprika-use hot paprika instead.

Romesco sauce would also taste good made with toasted almonds instead hazelnuts, which are harder to find in NYC.

This dish can be made in advance until the fish goes into the romesco sauce. That makes it a good choice for a company dinner.