These beautiful grey sole fillets came from Rick Lofstad’s Pura Vida Seafood, whose colorful 55′ fishing vessel, ‘All For Joy’ (which was presumably his flagship), had capsized on the Sunday before I purchased them at the Union Square Greenmarket on Friday.

Earlier today on this blog I wrote about the incident and my huge respect for The Captain, who is something of an area legend, as well as for all the intrepid fishers who bring such treasures from the sea to all of us, from stalls in Union Square and in local markets throughout the larger New York area.

We wish the heroic sea captain our best, and we expect to be enjoying his catch forever, or at least for as long as all of us are still up to working it.

While there was not quite three quarters of a pound of fish, the small size of the fillets meant that they would cover a large area, giving me a chance to again use my new toy, this huge old pan.

• six 2-ounce grey sole fillets from Pura Vida Seafood, dried thoroughly, salted and brushed with a good white wine vinegar, sautéed briefly in a little olive oil and a bit of of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ inside a heavy antique low-sided 13″ copper pan (I needed a large surface for these small fillets),  turning once, then removed to 2 plates, the pan wiped with a paper towel before introducing 2 or 3  tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons or so of juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, and some upland cress, at least a handful cut from a live hydroponically-grown plant from Two Guys from Woodbridge, allowed to heat for a minute or so, when the buttery sauce was poured over the sole, lemon quarters served on the side
• about 16 ounces of ‘mature’ (they had been in the crisper for a while, which may explain why, at the end, they cooked very fast and wrinkled up a bit) Kyoto carrots from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed and dried, tossed inside a bowl with a little olive oil, salt, freshly ground black pepper, more than half of a teaspoon of crushed Italian fennel seed, and a bit of crushed dried habanada pepper, arranged inside a large unglazed ceramic Pampered Chef oven pan, roasted at 400º for about 30 minutes, arranged on the plates and garnished with  micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• a modest amount of really, really sweet purple kale from Norwich Meadows Farm (remaining from a supply that was probably mixed with some from Lani’s Farm), wilted inside a large enameled cast iron pot in which one halved garlic clove from Norwich Meadows had first been allowed to sweat in a little olive oil until pungent, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of fresh olive oil
• the wine was a California (Lodi) white, Evangelos Bagias Lodi Chardonnay 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music was an album of  Johann Schobert’s quartets, trios, and sonatas, performed by Ensemble 415; little is known of his origins, but his career, and his music, speak for themselves (his demise was something else)

“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;“

The extraordinary, and very precious privilege of enjoying our phenomenal local wild seafood was brought home to me again yesterday afternoon, along with one aspect of its precariousness, .

Captain Rick Lofstad, a third-generation Long Island fisherman, along with his mate Desmond, who was with him on only his third commercial fishing voyage ever, had to abandon their 55-foot fishing vessel, ‘All For Joy’, last Sunday morning after it began to take on water 3 nautical miles south of Fishers Island, and several hours from its port, Hampton Bays. Fortunately there were no injures.

There is a short Coast Guard video of these events at sea last Sunday morning.

The two had donned proper survival gear when they slipped into the waters moments before their ship capsized. The local Coast Guard had been able to reach them by then, but were unable to prevent the hull from taking on more water, even with the extra pump they supplied.

In the picture above, from Fisherynation.com (Photo courtesy of Station New London), taken after the rescue, crew members from Coast Guard Station New London pose with Captain Rick and First Mate Desmond, both shoeless and maybe looking weary.

The Coast Guard has so far been unable to salvage the vessel, which was not insured, and although Lofstad owns several others, I understand they are currently being loaned to other fishermen.

This is the All For Joy on a better day:

The boat was named for his 8-year-old daughter Joy, 3 years old at the time he acquired it; it was Joy who had decided what color it should be, according to the newsletter, 23East.com. In its account, once she had made her choice, her father’s daily workplace, “..was soon colored blueberry yogurt purple with cotton candy pink piping on its rub-rails, a matching pink roof for its wheelhouse, and 40-foot-tall pink outriggers towering over its decks.

We also learn that the captain was anxious to tell the Coast Guard the background to the singular appearance of the pink and purple fishing boat: Last Sunday, the story “..tugged at the heartstrings of the crew of a U.S. Coast Guard lifeboat that was motoring alongside the All For Joy as she made her way through storm-tossed Block Island Sound. Her skipper shared the tale over the radio, he recalled later this week, because: ‘I wanted them to know why my boat was the color it is—in case I didn’t make it.’”

I know nothing more right now, but, while unaware of his tragedy when I saw and purchased some wonderful grey sole from the usual bounty at his Union Square Greenmarket stall on Friday, I expect Rick will be (or already is) back in business soon.

My short account here was assembled quickly from several online sources, including Newsday and 27East.com, and from my conversation on Friday with my friend Paul Mendelsohn, who was there at his normal station, at the helm of the Pura Vida fish stall in the Union Square Greenmarket.

I cook local seafood at home on an average of 3 days a week, and it brings both of us great joy. Almost all of it comes from the 5 or 6 different fishers who sell their catches in the Union Square Greenmarket. I’ve never taken this benison for granted, and I’m always deeply sorry to be dramatically reminded of it by hearing news like this.

“Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.”

Another weekday meal with a real first course. Well, my reasoning was that because there had been only 12 ounces in the box of good pasta, and I had already used around 8 ounces in another meal, I had only a few ounces left, too few, I thought, to suffice for an entrée, so I would supplement it with a small first course (even a small cheese course at the end, if we would be up to it by then).

And then both courses grew like [Harriet Beecher Stowe’s] Topsy. I had started with simply a great salumi, then I realized I had half of a small container of ricotta in the refrigerator, and of course there would have to be bread, and, while it’s not really an Italian thing, I almost always feel better about a cold plate if I can include a green of some kind.

• four ounces of Principe Italian uncured roasted porchetta rolled in pancetta from Chelsea Whole Foods Market
• a few ounces of water buffalo ricotta from Riverine Ranch in the Union Square Greenmarket that I mixed with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, one chopped Windfall Farms baby celery stalk and its leaves, and a bit of olive oil
• wild cress from Lani’s Farm, drizzled with a little olive oil
• slices of a whole wheat baguette from Our Daily Bread in the Union Square Greenmarket

The pasta would have remained pretty light if I hadn’t realized that I had a few small radishes that were anxious to be a part of something interesting, perhaps even something cooked, for a change. Also, maybe the topper was the breadcrumbs I added, but when we had finished, a cheese course didn’t tempt us.

• five ounces of Sfoglini emmer reginetti (organic emmer flour, organic durum semolina flour, water), also known as mafaldine, or ‘little queens’, from the Greenmarket Regional Grains Project in the Union Square Greenmarket, cooked barely al dente and some of the water reserved before it was drained, added to a large high-sided antique copper pot in which 2 cloves of garlic from Norwich Meadows Farm and the equivalent of one bunch of small scrubbed, trimmed and halved French breakfast radishes from Eckerton Hill Farm had been heated until softened in a little olive oil, then a pinch of crushed dried hickory-smoked Jamaican Scotch bonnet pepper, also from Eckerton Hill, the zest from half of an organic Whole Foods lemon and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, salt, and pepper were introduced to the pot and everything stirred together, some pea shoots from Norwich Meadows Farm mixed in, the pasta arranged in 2 warm shallow bowls, more pea sprouts arranged on top and a little olive oil drizzled around the edges, some toasted homemade breadcrumbs sprinkled over the reginetti itself

• the wine was a California (Central Coast) sparkling white, Eponina Brut California NV, from Naked Wines
• the music was Handel’s 1723 baroque opera, ‘Flavio’, René Jacobs conducting Ensemble 415

It was to be a very simple meal that I could almost do in my sleep, because we had a guest, and there was going to be some serious discussion about some future construction in the kitchen. I expected to be pretty distracted, but I managed to put together a pretty tasty meal.

It turned out however that I was distracted, but not where I had expected to be: We were having so much fun that I forgot to photograph the main course. I can describe it however (there really wasn’t much to it), and I have many pictures from past meals that could stand in for what I missed capturing this time.

Our guest had brought a bottle of good champagne, which we opened once the more serious conversation was put aside.

• some rustic Italian breadsticks, Mario Fongo grissini integrali, from Buon Italia
• the wine was a French (Champagne) sparkling, Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Réserve Champagne, the gift of a friend

The appetizer was inspired by my visit that afternoon to some of my favorite Greenmarket people.

• a few ounces of water buffalo ricotta from Riverine Ranch in the Union Square Greenmarket, mixed with a very small amount of Trickling Springs Creamery whole milk (they use glass deposit bottles!) from Chelsea Whole Foods Market, a little bit of some good Trader Joe’s Italian Reserve extra virgin olive oil (unfiltered, unrefined, and cold pressed), a pinch of crushed dried hickory-smoked Jamaican Scotch bonnet pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and one stalk of finely-chopped baby celery from Windfall Farms, with the leaves, the mix stirred and distributed on 3 plates, a bit more olive oil drizzled on top
• slices of really good garlic ciabatta from Philadelphia’s Lost Bread Co. (organic bread flour, spelt, malted barley, breadcrumbs, water, local Hudson Valley Cold Pressed Oils‘ sunflower oil, garlic, herbs, salt, yeast)
• the wine was a Spanish (Catalonia/Penedès) white, Huguet de Can Feixes Can Feixes Blanco Seleccio 2017, from Crush Wines 

• 21 sea scallops (a total of 20-21 ounces) from American Seafood Company, rinsed, dried, slit horizontally with a very sharp knife almost all of the way through, stuffed with a mixture of home grown basil from Barry’s Artsy colleague Becca, one medium-size clove of garlic from Norwich Meadows Farm, salt, and black pepper, all chopped together very finely and removed to a small bowl where just enough olive oil was added to form a paste, the stuffed scallops then rolled around on a plate with a little more olive oil, drained, then pan grilled in an enameled cast iron pan (they barely fit) for about 2 minutes on each side, removed to the 3 plates, finished with a squeeze of organic lemon from Whole Foods Market and a drizzle of olive oil,  garnished with some beautiful lacy micro red mustard from Two Guys from Woodbridge

• two bunches of curly winterbor kale from Tamarack Hollow Farm, washed, drained, wilted in a little olive oil in which 3 garlic cloves from Norwich Meadows had first been allowed to sweat and begin to color, seasoned with salt and black pepper, drizzled with a little more olive oil
• the wine was a great Portuguese (Vinho Verde) white, Vinho Verde Loureiro, Aphros 2016, from Astor Wines

• the music throughout was an album evoking the southern Iberian geography and its culture in a remote age, the eponymous, ‘Granada (1013-1502)’, with Jordi Savall, Le Concert des Nations, and Hespèrion XXI 

I’m leading this post with an image and a description of the second course from last night’s dinner, since in the last few days I’ve already written – twice – about what was basically the same appetizer, except for the greens that accompanied it.

Yes, it was very, very good; Tuesday’s meal marked the final appearance of our supply of a wonderful smoked fish pâté.

• a composed smoked fish salad, more like a pâté, composed almost entirely of fish, all caught off Long Island by Phil Karlin, whose wife, Dolores Karlin, prepared it, consisting of several white fish species, mayonnaise, red onion, and celery, from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company (the salad was perfectly seasoned, and needed no adjustments), served on slices of a loaf of ‘table bread’ from Philadelphia’s Lost Bread Co. that had been toasted over an open gas flame on our ‘Camp-A-Toaster’
• a spray of organic hydroponically-grown upland cress from Two Guys from Woodbridge, dressed with some good unfiltered olive oil from the 6th Avenue Trader Joe’s Market, Maldon salt, some ground black pepper, and a drizzle of organic lemon juice from Chelsea Whole Foods Market

For the main course I had thought I’d be working with one of the several packages of really good local pasta I had on hand, but none seemed right for what I had already chosen to cook with it. so I ended up using an Afeltra rigatoni. It reminded both of us of just how really good an artisanal Italian pasta can be.

• one small ‘yellow shallot’ from Norwich Meadows Farm heated gently in a little olive oil inside a large antique copper pot until it had softened, 8 ounces of Rigorosa Gragnano rigatoni from Eataly Flatiron, cooked al dente, mixed in, the heat turned up high and nearly a cup of reserved pasta water added and stirred with the oil and shallot until the liquid had emulsified, followed by a small handful of black olives (a mix of Gaeta and Kalamata) and 2 finely-chopped stalks and leaves of baby celery from Windfall Farms, a pinch of crushed dried hickory-smoked Jamaican Scotch bonnet pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, the mix stirred before it was arranged inside 2 shallow bowls, where some well-toasted pine nuts, or pinoli, from Buon Italia were tossed on top, the pasta finished with a bit of olive oil drizzled around edges

• the wine throughout the meal was one of our regular favorites, an Italian (Marche) white, Le Salse, Verdicchio di Matelica, 2016, from Flatiron Wines
• the music throughout was our second listening to a mid-seventeenth century Venetian masterpiece, Francesco Cavalli’s ‘La Calisto‘, conducted by René Jacobs