I’ve cooked all 3 parts of this meal before, in fact each of them many times, but there were subtle differences last night.

The swordfish was introduced to tarragon in my kitchen for the first time; the potatoes were graced with some beautiful dried red shishito pepper, which I’ve never used on anything before; and although the greens, a mustard, were familiar, this time they were truly a baby mustard, and so were a first on our table.

• one 15-ounce swordfish steak from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, halved, marinated on an ironstone platter for about 45 minutes, turning once, in a mixture of a few tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of fresh chopped tarragon from Stokes Farm, a small amount, chopped, of a yellow grenada seasoning pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm, a bit of peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, and the chopped white section of 2 very small scallions from Berried Treasures Farm, after which the swordfish was drained well, both sides covered with a coating of homemade dried breadcrumbs, and pan-grilled over medium-high heat for 3 or 4 minutes on each side, or until just barely (or not quite) cooked to the center, then removed from the pan and arranged on 2 plates, sprinkled with a little Maldon salt, some of the chopped greener parts of the 2 scallions, and several large whole tarragon leaves, drizzled with a bit of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon and garnished on the side with a little red micro mustard from Windfall Farms

• eleven ounces or so of La Ratte potatoes from Berried Treasures, scrubbed, boiled in salt water, drained, dried in the pan, rolled in a little olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, sprinkled with some chopped fresh oregano from Stokes Farm and one small crushed dried red shishito pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm

• a few handfuls of very tender baby mustard greens from Lani’s Farm, wilted in a little olive oil in which 3 roughly-chopped rocambole garlic cloves from Keith’s Farm had been allowed to sweat a bit, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, finished on the plates with a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was a Greek (Fteri, Mantinia, Tripolis, Arcadia) white, Troupis, Moschofilero ‘Fteri’ 2017, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was Handel’s 1734-1735 opera seria, ‘Ariodante’, Nicholas McGegan conducting the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra