The tomatoes were piling up again, but since I already had made a decision about which vegetables would accompany the salmon, I just added a simple salad/appetizer course.

• a handful or two of arugula from Alewife Farm, torn into fork-size pieces, topped with wedges of ripe red heirloom tomatoes from Lani’s Farm, drizzled with a good olive oil, good sea salt, freshly-ground pepper, and a bit of white balsamic vinegar, sprinkled with torn New York City basil from Gotham Greens via Whole Foods
• the wine was an Italian (Piedmont) white, Ioppa Vino Bianco San Grato 2015

 

When it came to the main course, there were micro things everywhere, perhaps partly just because they had been hanging around.

• one 15-ounce fresh (never frozen) wild sockeye salmon fillet from Whole Foods, coated on both sides with a mix of light brown turbinado sugar, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, freshly ground allspice, freshly ground nutmeg, and the zest of half of a lemon, marinated in the refrigerator in a covered dish for about 4 hours, after which time the fish was rinsed, patted dry, brought to room temperature, oiled generously, and cooked on an enameled grill pan, flesh side down, removed when the inside was medium pink, the outside crisp and smoky, divided onto 2 plates, sprinkled with micro scallions from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and served with lemon wedges [the recipe I used was fundamentally this one from Melissa Clark]
• flat green or Romano beans from Berried Treasures Farm, par-boiled, drained, dried (shaking over a flame in the pan in which they had cooked), reheated in a bit of olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, sprinkled with purple micro radish from Windfall Farms
• two medium ‘new’ potatoes (which had eventually matured in the crisper, and which were probably Red Norland) from Central Valley Farm, boiled in well-salted water, drained, dried in the still-warm glass pot, quartered, rolled in a little olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, sprinkled with fennel flower from Rise & Root Farm
• the wine was a California (Solano) red, David Akiyoshi California Pinot Noir 2015

 

• the music throughout the meal was that of Charles Wuorinen, and notably, his trio for flute, bass clarinet, and piano, ‘Metagong’, heard on Spotify