When I’m shopping at any of the fish stalls at the Union Square GreenmarketI’ll I usually zero in on whatever I consider the most unusual catch of the day, so of course I brought home some of the shark steak on display on Friday afternoon.

• two thick 9 or 10-ounce thresher shark [alopias vulpinus] steaks from Pura Vida Seafood, halved, rubbed on both sides with most of a mixture of fresh herbs (parsley from from Phillips Farms, tarragon from Lani’s Farm, and spearmint from Keith’s Farm), chopped together, using a chef’s knife, with sea salt, some partially smashed whole black pepper, some fresh spring garlic from from Michisk’s Farm in Flemington, NJ, a bit of zest from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, a bit of olive oil added to moisten the mix, reserving a little of the herb mixture for basting, the shark pan-grilled, basted throughout the cooking process with some of the reserved mixture and removed, ideally, while barely fully cooked in the center (exactly as I managed it this time), arranged on the plates, finished with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil, garnished with chopped bronze fennel from from Space on Ryder Farm (of Betsy Ryder’s family farm)

• fourteen small ‘red fingerling’ potatoes from Tamarack Hollow Farm, scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in some  generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm medium vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, tossed with chopped fresh oregano from Phillips Farms

• one large bunch of impressively big, ‘Big Red’ mustard leaves from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, washed and drained several times, wilted inside a large antique copper pot in a little olive oil in which 2 halved spring garlic cloves from Michisk’s Farm had been allowed to sweat, seasoned with salt and pepper and finished on the plates with a drizzle of olive oil
• the wine was an Italian (Marche) rosé, De Angelis Marche Rosato IGT 2018, from Foragers Wines
• the music was a very beautiful album of Francesco Durante Concertos, Nos. 1-8 (7 for strings, one for keyboard), performed by Concerto Köln