It started with leftovers Saturday night.

I knew we would enjoy the lobster-filled mezzalune, but what we had was only enough for a primi. I thought about a vegetable gratin for the secondo, but having found myself inside Whole Foods Market to pick up some milk, I visited the case where the salmon is displayed and the vegetables were pushed aside.

Except for the delicious January kale from central New York (and the micro-Romanesco and green cauliflower I added to the pasta).

• 8 pieces of lobster-filled mezzaluna remaining from an earlier meal, heated in a little butter then tossed with sections of tiny heads of Romanesco and green cauliflower from Norwich Meadows Farm and sprinkled with some additional squashed pink peppercorn
• mini baguette from Whole Foods

The second course was all brand new.

• one wild Sockeye salmon fillet (larger than usual, 1.15 pounds) from Whole Foods, seasoned with salt and pepper, rubbed with a mixture of ground coriander seeds, ground cloves, ground cumin, and grated nutmeg, and fried over medium-high heat for a few minutes on each side in an enameled, cast iron pan, finished with a squeeze of sweet lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkling of micro sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge [note: this time, more or less unaccountably, I cooked the salmon on the skin side first, which may have had the effect of weakening the effect of the wonderful seasoning]
• a bouquet of delicious flat-leaf Winterbor kale from Norwich Meadows Farm, sautéed in olive oil in which 2 medium cloves of garlic, halved, from Lucky Dog Organic Farm had first been allowed to sweat
• mini baguette from Whole Foods

 

• the wine throughout was a California (Napa) white, Sin Fronteras Chardonnay Napa 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music, for much of the meal, was Alfred Schnittke, Symphony No. 7, Lü Jia conducting the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra