I spotted the mackerel first thing at the Greenmarket on Monday. Then I saw the yellow mushrooms, and, a few minutes later, some very beautiful bronze fennel; the meal was now completely assembled in my head.

But when I brought it to the table, although I had washed and chopped it, I forgot all about sprinkling the fennel on the fish and the mushrooms, which means the entrée was only partially realized, as planned, although it was still very delicious.

The fennel would also have added to the aesthetic, but it will probably make an appearance in the meal to be served the next day [update: it did]

 

• nine small Boston mackerel fillets (a total of 14 ounces) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, seasoned on both sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, sautéed fairly gently in a couple tablespoons of butter inside a large, thick antique oval tin-lined copper pan, flesh side first, turned after about a minute and a half and the other side cooked for about the same length of time, removed and arranged on 2 plates when done, either covered, to keep warm, or, if it’s convenient to do so, placed inside a barely-warm oven, the heat kept low under the pan and another tablespoon of butter, or a little more, added, and when it had melted about 6 ounces of roughly-chopped yellow oyster mushrooms from Blue Oyster Cultivation tossed into the pan and sautéed, stirring, until lightly cooked, the mushrooms seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, and some ramps from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm, bulbs chopped, leaves sliced, plus about a tablespoon (or a little more) of lemon juice added to the pan, everything briefly stirred with a wooden spatula, the mushrooms and their juices spooned around the mackerel (which I had intended to finish with some chopped bronze fennel from Norwich Meadows Farm)
• the remainder of a bunch of broccoli rabe (aka rapini) from Migliorelli Farm (most of it had been included in a meal a few days before), wilted in a little olive oil inside a large antique high-sided tin-lined copper pot in which 2 small sliced spring garlic stems from Windfall Farms had been heated until slightly softened, the greens seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, divided onto the plates, sprinkled with a little bit of dried pepperoncino Calabresi secchi from Buon Italia and drizzled with more olive oil
• slices of a whole wheat sourdough miche from Bread Alone Bakery
• the wine was an Oregon (Willamette Valley) white, Scott Kelley Pinot Gris Willamette 2017, from Naked Wines
• the music was Haydn’s last opera, ‘L’anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice’ (The Soul of the Philosopher, or Orpheus and Euridice), written in London in 1791, but not performed until 1951, in Florence (when the lead role was sung by Maria Callas), the Academy of Ancient Music and the Academy of Ancient Music Chorus conducted by Christopher Hogwood

There were a number of intersections in this meal, and I thought about them only once the cooking was well underway. Although the word is inexact, and probably inapposite here, by ‘intersections’ I mean that there were some close relationships and repeats among its ingredients: There were 2 kinds of fresh greens, and 2 kinds of sweet potato. There were 3 members of the family brassicaceae (red mustard, radish greens, and micro red radish); each of the 3 main players, the duck, the potatoes, and the greens, was enhanced by a different allium (spring garlic for the mix of the 2 greens, dry garlic for the 2 potatoes, and micro scallion for the duck); 2 of these 3 parts were finished with a bit of both lemon and olive oil (the greens and the duck); and the cooking of a different combination began with some olive oil (the greens and the potatoes).

All of this is probably totally irrelevant to either the dinner’s appearance or its taste, but I like thinking about how it was somehow tied together in ways that were totally unplanned, or at least totally unconscious.

The most interesting intersection was that of Vincenzo Bellini and RIchard Wagner, in the music that we listened to during the meal. I had absolutely nothing to do with that one, as Barry was the DJ. Also, both composers have been dead for well over a hundred years.

• one 14-ounce duck breast from Hudson River Duck Farm, the fatty side scored in tight cross hatching with a very sharp knife, the entire breast then rubbed, top and bottom, with a mixture of sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a little turbinado sugar, left standing, first inside the refrigerator then on the counter, for about an hour altogether, before it was pan-fried, fatty side down first, inside a small oval enameled cast iron pan over medium heat for a total of about 9 minutes, turning once, draining the oil after the first few minutes (the fat to be strained and used in cooking later, if desired), removed when medium rare (cut crosswise into 2 portions to check that the center was of the right doneness, which means definitely no more than medium rare), left to sit for several minutes before it was finished with a drizzle of the juice of an organic lemon from Whole Foods Market, a little Portuguese house olive oil from Whole Foods Market, some chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and then garnished with micro scallion, also from Two Guys.
• four sweet potatoes, or just under a pound, half of them ‘Japanese’ from Lani’s Farm, the other half ‘Carolina Ruby’ from Samascott Orchards, left unpeeled, but washed thoroughly, cut as for short french fries, tossed inside a bowl with olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, two large unpeeled cloves of garlic from John D. Madura Farm, and a pinch of crushed dark dried habanada pepper, than roasted in a 400º oven in my faithful, large well-seasoned Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic oven pan for about 35 minutes, or until crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and a little chewy on the edges, garnished with micro red mustard from, once again, Two Guys from Woodbridge

• the last little bunch of red mustard greens from Norwich Meadows Farm, together with the leaves of a bunch of French breakfast radishes from Eckerton Hill Farm, wilted in a little olive oil in which 2 garlic cloves from Foragers Market 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 Austrian (Burgenland) red, St. Laurent vom Kiesel, Strehn 2013, from Astor Winesthe music was Bellini’s 1831 opera, ‘Norma’, Giovanni Antonini conducting the Orchestra La Scintilla and the International Chamber Vocalists, with Sumi Jo, John Osborn, Reinaldo Macias, Liliana Nikiteanu, Michele Pertusi, and Cecilia Bartoli; until I started writing this post I didn’t know much about Wagner’s attitude toward Bellini, or to this bel canto opera specifically, other than the fact that he had conducted it, while music director of the Riga Opera House, only 6 years after its unsuccessful London premiere (he was not yet 25); I had a vague recollection of reading once that he respected Bellini, but I still was astonished to occasionally hear bits throughout the opera that sounded like what the much younger German would write years later, and most remarkably in the Introduction to Act II (more on Wagner’s respect for Bellini here).