I’m indebted to Rhode Island for this meal. Ever since I learned that ‘blackfish’ was the same species I knew as ‘tautog’ when I lived in Rhode Island, it’s become a New York favorite.

I had arrived a little late at the Union Square Greenmarket on Saturday, where both Eric and Paul, working the stall of Pura Vida Fisheries, suggested I choose the one remaining blackfish/tautog fillet.  It looked beautiful, and I wanted to take the suggestion, but the problem was that it barely weighed half a pound.   Some background:  Every time I visit, as Paul wraps up my fish choice he asks, “what else?”, and every time I have to respond that I can only handle one fish at a time.  Because I wanted to fill out my ration for the evening, this time I think I was able to make him happy.

They had Scallops which had been harvested that very morning, and scallops would be a natural choice to go with the tautog. I might have found a way to include both the shell- and fin-fish on the same plate had not Franca at Berried Treasures a few minutes later presented me with a small handful of fava beans (mixed inadvertently with a few peas).  My entrée had suddenly grown into two separate courses.

 

The berries which constituted the third course were something of a lagniappe, since I had spotted them a little later at Norwich Meadows Farm where I was only looking for a contorno for the fillet (I zoomed in on some very healthy looking lacinato, or cavalo nero).

The debt for this very pleasant meal had thus been extended to at least two other farmers.

The first course featured the scallops.

• scallops which had been harvested that same morning, from Pura Vida Fisheries, washed, drained, and dried very thoroughly, then pan grilled, finished with a squeeze of lemon juice, and drizzled with olive oil, accompanied on the plate with a small amount of fava beans and an even smaller number of peas, both from Berried treasures, briefly blanched in salted water

The tautog dominated the main course.

• tautog, or blackfish, from Pura Vida Fisheries [prepared following a recipe by Melissa Clark published in the Times four years ago, substituting a mix of excellent cayenne pepper and a dulce paprika for Aleppo pepper], seasoned, seared, cooked with halved Gaeta olives from Buon Italia, and drizzled with ‘tomato water’ prepared earlier, using heirloom tomatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm and rosemary from Stokes Farm, finished with torn basil from a live Full Bloom Market Garden plant from Whole Foods, and spearmint from Phillips Farm
• lacinato from Norwich Meadows Farm, braised with two small heads of fresh garlic form Lucky Dog Organic, salt, and pepper

The dessert was a small dish of berries.

• mixed raspberries (black, red, and golden) from Norwich Meadows Farm, with a dollop of Madagascar Vanilla Ciao Bello gelato, then garnished with torn spearmint – and sprigs of spearmint – from Phillips Farm

The accompaniments, as usual, were wine and music.

• the wine was a French (Bordeau) white, Château Perron Graves 2014
• the music was an album of early-seventeenth-century dances, ‘Terpsichore – Muse Of The Dance / Sempe, Capriccio Stravagante‘

This meal tasted at least as good as it looks in this picture.

• four 3- to 4-ounce Spanish mackerel fillets from Blue Moon Fish Company, washed, dried, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, pan grilled over high heat for six or seven minutes, transferred to plates and completed with a salsa of cut tomatoes (golden grape Florida tomatoes from Eataly and Maine cherry ‘cocktail’ tomatoes from Whole Foods) which were tossed with olive oil, washed and drained salted capers, some finely-sliced fresh garlic from Lucky Dog Organic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper
• two small white Patty Pan squash from Keith’s Farm, sliced horizontally, tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, chopped fresh garlic from Lucky Dog Organic, salt, and pepper, then pan grilled for about six minutes, added to the plates with the mackerel, and sprinkled with wood sorrel leaves from Bodhitree Farm
• the wine was a Spanish white, Naia D.O. Rueda 2014, from Verdejo old vines
• the music was Richard Strauss’s ‘Ein Heldenleben’, with Bernard Haitink conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra [I can never separate the sound from “The Big Story,” a 1940s Friday night radio drama about heroic newspaper reporters]

• the pasta salad was some spaghettini and snow peas from a dinner of a few days ago, served at room temperature, this time accompanied by some baby greens from Lani’s Farm

• The entrée was a fillet of striped bass from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, marinated for about half an hour in lemon juice, olive oil, sliced fresh garlic from Lucky Dog Organic, stems of fresh oregano from Lani’s Farm, and freshly-ground black pepper, drained and pan-grilled for a few minutes, finished with lemon juice, olive oil, and a mixture of more fresh oregano, now chopped, and parsley from Stokes Farm [the basic recipe is Martha Stewart’s]
• the vegetable was a generous serving of minutina from Norwich Meadows Farm, wilted in medium-hot olive oil in which some sliced fresh garlic from Lucky Dog Organic had [almost] begun to brown

• The dark sweet cherries were from Healthway Farms

 

• The wine, for the first two courses, was a New York white from the Finger Lakes, Brooklyn Winery Chardonnay  2013
• the music was Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in E-flat major, played by Hae-Won Chang

 

I was putting this Tunisian cauliflower frittata together on the same day I was reading the sad story of foreign visitors’ fleeing Tunisia because of warnings of terrorism.  My choice of an entrée had not been influenced by it, but the news added depth to our appreciation of this dish – and of Tunisia.

It’s a simple concoction to put together, can be done even a day ahead of time (and any leftovers taste great even the day after that), and can, and indeed should, be served at room temperature.  A perfect summer meal.

We shared it with a friend who wanted to share some excellent rosé wine with us.  Before we had made that arrangement I had bought some yellow cauliflower from one of my favorite Greenmarket farmers, but it was not enough for this recipe, so I retrieved a 20-ounce head from Eataly and saved the smaller one for another meal.

I set out plates of Speck as an appetizer, even though that element of the meal was hardly Tunisian.

• Speck from Eataly, on a plate with arugula from John D. Maderna Farm which was dressed with oil and lemon, accompanied by slices of whole wheat (‘Integrale’) from Eataly

The picture of the frittata resting on top of my 1931 Magic Chef oven was taken just after it had been removed from the oven the day before we enjoyed it.

• the frittata included a small yellow onion from Norwich Meadows Farm, fresh garlic from Lucky Dog Organic, eggs from Millport Dairy, parsley from Stokes Farm, caraway seeds, Red Cow Parmesan cheese from Eatlay, and a terrific cayenne from Spices and Tease [the recipe is from Martha Rose Shulman in the New York Times]
• a salad of halved tomatoes (red cherry from from Norwich Meadows Farm, and golden golden grape Florida tomatoes from Eataly) tossed with sliced small Persian cucumbers from Norwich Meadows Farm, dressed with olive oil, a red rioja wine vinegar, and torn spearmint leaves from Phillips Farm
• the central wine of the evening was a German rosé, Koehler Ruprecht 2014 Pinot Noir Rosé Kabinett trocken from the Pfalz
• the music was our conversation

While we were enjoying this meal two weeks back, Barry said that he doesn’t want to have steak unless it’s as good as this one.

I hadn’t really planned a dinner for that Saturday evening, so it was serendipity when we found ourselves in the West Village, more or less shut out (because of the enormous line) of the last day of Gavin Brown’s crowd-drawing and crowd-pleasing show, ‘Untitled: 12 Horses‘.  Barry suggested we walk a bit further in the rain and check out what the people at Hudson & Charles might be able to tempt us with, and we went hiome with two beautiful Delmonico steaks.

We had a small cheese course after the entrée.

• Delmonico steaks from Hudson & Charles finished with lemon, savory from Berried Treasures, a drizzle of olive oil on the steaks after they had been pan grilled
• breakfast radishes from Rogowski Farm, roasted on a small Pampered Chef pan with branches of thyme from Eckerton Hill
• garlic scapes from John D. Madura Farm, tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then pan grilled
• the cheese was ‘Pearl’, from Seal Cove Farm (a pasteurized goat and cows’ milk cheese from Lamoine, Maine), Maine, served with toasts of a sourdough bâtard from She Wolf Bakery at the Greenmarket
• the wine was a California red, Jacqueline Bahue Cabernet Franc, Lodi 2013