Instructions: First make the coulis: preheat a moderate grill.

Place the peppers in the grill pan arrange them about 5cm in from the heat and grill them for about 10 minutes turning 23 times until charred evenly all over.

When the peppers are cool enough to handle peel or scrape off their charred skins as neatly as possible and discard.

Trim and discard their tops as well as their seeds and any thick inner membranes.

Place all the pepper flesh and their juices in a food processor with a little hot water and process to a smooth paste.

Put this through a fine sieve pressing and scraping to get all the juices through.

Add the oil and vinegar and mix them in.

Cover the coulis and set aside.

Now cook the fish: heat the oil gently in a large saute pan add the garlic and stir briefly.

Then add the fillets skinside down and saute gently for 2 minutes without allowing them to brown.

Immediately add the wine most of the basil torn by hand and salt and pepper.

Tilt the pan to coat the fish and cook gently for 3 4 more minutes basting the fish a couple of times.

Hake really needs very little cooking.

Lift the fillets from the pan and transfer to individual warmed plates.

Reduce the juices in the pan by boiling rapidly for a couple of minutes and pour them over the fillets.

Surround each fillet with the coulis and garnish with the remaining basil leaves and some lemon slices.

Mediterranean hake has a subtle clean taste which is often used as a background to playful flavours and textures. It is commonly served baked with pepper and tomato sauce in Spain it becomes merlaza en salsa verde and in this recipe it is combined with a Provencal explosion of colour and tastes in a red pepper coulis. Fillets of John Dory or sea bass can also be served in the same way. This dish goes well with Catalan Spinach (qv)

Serves 4

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