For some reason last week turned out to be a major seafood fest: oysters, fried calamari, fish chowder, rockfish and halibut. Not bad – usually we settle for shrimp curries and the occasional piece of salmon. The halibut was the only oceanic item I actually cooked myself, and it turned out very nice if I do say so.

In the spirit of using up stuff from the fridge before it went all slimy, I dug out a bag of slightly wizened serrano chiles and the remainder of a huge bunch of parsley. I seeded the chiles and tossed them into the little food processor with the parsley, a couple cloves of garlic, half a lemon’s worth of juice and a little olive oil. I zizzed it smooth, then added salt. It was very sharp and green with a definite chile buzz.

We ate the sauce spooned heavily over a plate of steamed broccoli, butter-roasted halibut, and the last Carnival squash from the basement which we cut into wedges, tossed with olive oil and roasted until the tips caramelized. A glass of Gascogne white wine went perfectly.

The sauce was particularly fabulous on the broccoli – I could definitely see making this again just to mix with vegetables as a side dish. Next time I might add some anchovy for added depth of flavor.