fennel-grilled tuna steak; summer squash grilled with mint

Still summer.

  • one 12-ounce tuna steak from P.E. & D.D. Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, halved at home, rubbed, tops and bottoms, with a mixture of a dry Sicilian fennel seed from Buon Italia that had been crushed in a mortar and pestle along with a little dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia, the tuna also seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan-grilled above a medium-high flame (for only a little more than a minute or so on each side), finished on the plates with a good squeeze of the juice of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market, and served with a bit of micro sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge, some olive oil drizzled on top
  • a mix of several kinds of baby summer squash from Norwich Meadows Farm, sliced lengthwise into 1/4″ sections, tossed with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, and spearmint from Stokes Farm, arranged on top of a well-seasoned 2-burner cast iron grill and cooked, turning at least once, arranged on the plates and drizzled with a little olive oil [probably because it was getting late, I prepared the squash more simply than I normally do, and next time I would mix the slices with the mint after they have been grilled]
  • the wine was an Italian (Puglia) white, Masseria Li Veli Verdeca 2015, from Garnet Wines
  • the music was the album, ‘Sturm Und Drang’, music of Nicolas Bacri (b. 1961)