wild salmon, sorrel, shallot flower; new potatoes; snap peas

I was prepared to make a frittata last night, because I already had so many good things I could put into one, but then I saw the sign in the iced fish case at the Chelsea Whole Foods Market, “Fresh & Wild Sockeye Fillet: $14.95 per pound”.

  • *I decided the eggs could wait.one 16-ounce never-frozen wild Coho salmon filet from Whole foods Market, cut into two pieces, placed unseasoned, skin side up inside a heavy enameled cast iron pan in which a little more than 2 tablespoons of a rich Belgian butter, Beurre de Chimay, from Ardennes (like the other butters I use, has fully 12 grams total fat, more than the 11 in almost all other butters available in the U.S.) had been allowed to heat until the foam began to recede, the fish then placed inside a 425º oven until barely cooked, or about 8 minutes, flipped after 5 minutes, removed, arranged on the plates, sprinkled with Maldon salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and micro sorrel from Two Guys from Woodbridge, garnished with thin slices from the stem of a flowering spring shallot along along with most of the beautiful flowers scissored off of the blossoming ball at the top of that stem, drizzled with a Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil and allowed to rest for about 4 minutes
  • *red new potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm boiled with a generous amount of salt until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried while still in the still-warm vintage medium size Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, rolled around in a little more than a tablespoon or so of Cabot Butter from Westside Market, sprinkled with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, garnished with micro red amaranth from Windfall Farms
  • *sugar snap peas from Windfall Farms in the Union Square Greenmarket, washed, their stems and strings trimmed, parboiled for just over a minute inside a large vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot, drained, dried in the same pot, shaking it over a low flame, then set aside, and just before serving, warmed inside a heavy, broad, tin-lined copper pot in which a small sliced stalk of spring garlic from Berried Treasures Farm had first been softened with a little olive oil over a moderate flame, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, tossed with chopped peppermint from Keith’s Farm
  • the wine was a California (Clarksburg) red, Richard Bruno Clarksburg Pinot Noir 2017, from Naked Wines
  • the music was Gluck’s 1777 opera, ‘Armide’,  Marc Minkowski conducting Les Musiciens du Louvre