I had bought two packages of smoked fish salad at the Union Square Greenmarket on Saturday, thinking we’d need that much for 4 people, but we only opened one of them that night. The 2 of us would share the contents of the other container on Monday and Tuesday.

• a composed smoked fish salad, or pâté, using local fish caught by Phil Karlin, whose wife, Dolores Karlin, made it, consisting of more than one white fish species, mayonnaise, red onion, and celery, from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company (the salad was perfectly seasoned), served on slices of a loaf of ‘table bread’ from Philadelphia’s Lost Bread Co. that had just been toasted over an open gas flame on our ‘Camp-A-Toaster’
• leaves of loose small arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm, dressed with some very good unfiltered olive oil from the 6th Avenue Trader Joe’s, Maldon salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a drizzle of organic lemon juice from Chelsea Whole Foods Market

The main course, however, was all new. It was dominated by seafood as well, which, coincidentally, had come from the same fishers who had brought us both the fish in the pâté and the cod we had enjoyed on Saturday.

Also new – and quite old – was the very large tin-lined copper pan I used to cook the fish. Although they weighed barely a pound altogether, the area the fillets would occupy was larger than any pan surface I had (that is, other than a pretty enormous, beautifully-seasoned carbon steel long-handled fish skillet, which I could have used, since there would be no acid involved in the cooking).

The new pan was a triumph.

• eight small (2-ounce) Porgy fillets from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, rinsed, dried, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan-seared, along with 4 small thinly-sliced Japanese shallots from Norwich Meadows Farm, over medium heat inside a newly-acquired and newly-retinned 13″-round shallow antique copper pan in a bit of butter and a little olive oil, the fish basted with the contents of the pan more or less continually for about 2 minutes, using a small brush, then carefully turned over, and the heat reduced to low, a cover placed on the pan (I used a new, tempered-glass universal lid that almost fit snugly between the handles) and the filets cooked for about about another 2 minutes before the cover was removed and a mix of 2 or 3 tablespoons of 7 different fresh herbs thrown in (this time I used thyme and spearmint from Chelsea Whole Foods; parsley from Norwich Meadows Farm; lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge; oregano from Phillips Farms; tarragon from Flatiron Eataly; and basil from a friend’s indoor garden), after which the basting was continued for about minute, or until the fish was cooked through, the fillets then arranged on the 2 plates, the pan juices and scallion fragments, together with the juice of one organic Whole Foods Market lemon, poured over the top, and a few chopped green segments of scallion scattered over everything (the recipe has been slightly modified from one written by Melissa Clark)
• the greens from 2 bunches of French breakfast radishes purchased from Eckerton Hill Farm (most of the radishes themselves had been enjoyed at the beginning of the meal on Saturday)

• the wine through both courses was a Spanish (Galicia) white, Valdesil, Godello ‘Montenovo’ 2017, from Flatiron Wines [more about the area, ‘the golden valley’, including a picture of the vintner, Borja Prada, who is interviewed here (we love Galicia)]

There was a dessert this time, which is something of a rare occurrence at our table.

• small dishes of delicious La Loos goat milk ice cream, ‘Snowflake vanilla’, from Chelsea Whole Foods

• the music throughout was Rossini’s beautiful 1814 opera buffa, ‘Il Turco In Italia’, Riccardo Chailly conducting the Milan Teatro alla Scala Orchestra and the Milan Teatro alla Scala Chorus (the composer was 22 at the time it premiered; it was first staged in New York City in 1826

[the image above, a portrait of Gioacchino Rossini in a super dressing gown, or banyan, by an unidentified artist, is apparently from the Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung – Universität zu Köln, via Pinterest (which does not load)]

I had decided early in the day on Sunday that I would prefer cooking a dinner with meat that night to one with pasta, since I had a good supply of both vegetables – and small, or micro vegetables as well – since more of them could be incorporated in, as it turned out, a pork entrée, than in any pasta.

Also, the freezer had grown almost full, which was going to make it hard to bring home something interesting that I might find at the market.

Another note about the dinner: Unusual for a meal at our table, there was not a single garlic clove or spicy chili. It was still eminently delicious.

• two 8-ounce boneless pork chops from Walter and Shannon of Shannon Brook Farm in the Finger Lakes, thoroughly dried, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a large pinch of light gold dried habanada pepper, seared quickly in a heavy enameled cast-iron pan before half of an organic Chelsea Whole Foods Market lemon was squeezed over them then left in the pan, which was then placed in a 400º oven for about 13 or 14 minutes (flipped halfway through and the lemon squeezed over them once again), removed from the oven, arranged on the plates, sprinkled with the chopped stems and leaves of 2 stalks of (pre-spring) baby celery from Windfall Farms, the rich pan juices poured over the top
• just under a pound of small, really wonderful, sweet Natasha potatoes from Phillips Farms,  scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm large vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed with a little Trader Joe’s Italian Reserve extra virgin olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and garnished with micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge

• a couple handfuls of beautiful chicory rosettes from Campo Rosso Farm that had popped up from last fall’s plants, washed, drained, dried, each halved – or quartered, if larger, tossed in a large bowl with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and a number of thyme branches from Chelsea Whole Foods, then arranged inside a large well seasoned Pampered Chef oven pan, without touching, roasted at 400º for about 10 minutes [I have to admit that I went a little overlong this time, but a bit crispy is good too, when it comes to chicory], removed from the oven and allowed to cool just a little before they were drizzled with a very small amount of balsamic vinegar
• the wine, a perfect pairing, was a really terrific unfiltered, unfined pinot noir, a French (Loire) red, Marie and Vincent Tricot’s ‘Les 3 Bonhommes’ 2016, from Copake Wine Works (I can’t say enough about the experience)
• the music was the contemporary Spanish composer Alberto Posadas’ ‘Poetics of the Gaze’, with Nacho de Paz conducting Klangforum Wien (a great listening)

There were two guests, and two fishes, actually, more than two (fishes).

We had friends to dinner and it was decided that seafood should dominate the menu, partly because we figured most New Yorkers rarely cook fish at home, and I definitely do. The first course featured a salad (the fisherman himself calls it a pâté), of several different species, and the main could hardly have been a more classic Northeastern entrée.

It was delicious, but maybe not the best choice for serving guests, since I was in the kitchen quite a bit while they were here, even though, of the 4 courses I served, essentially all one could be described as mostly or entirely ‘prepared’.

We drank a sparking  wine while nibbling on fresh radishes and some crunchy things

• a bunch of ‘French breakfast radishes’ from Eckerton Hill Farm, scrubbed, trimmed, and served with a small dish of Maldon salt
• some wonderful ‘Purple Peruvian’ farm-made potato chips from Rick Bishop’s Mountain Sweet Berry Farm
• some rustic Italian breadsticks, Mario Fongo grissini integrali, from Buon Italia
• the wine was a Portuguese (Beira) sparkling rosé, Beira Extra Brut Rosé ‘3B’ Filipa Pato – 2017, from Astor Wines

The first sit-down course was assembled, not cooked.

• a composed smoked fish salad using local fish caught by Phil Karlin, whose wife, Dolores Karlin, made it, consisting of more than one white fish species, mayonnaise, red onion, and celery, from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company(the salad was perfectly seasoned), served on slices of a demi baguette from Bread Alone toasted over an open gas flame on our ‘Camp-A-Toaster’
• wild cress from Lani’s Farm, drizzled with a small amount of a very good olive oil, Badia a Coltibuono, Monti del Chianti, from Chelsea Whole Foods Market
• the wine was a New Zealand (Marlborough) white, Churton Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2017, the gift of our 2 guests

Using an expression I remember was very common (both senses) while I was growing up, I suppose the main course was the pièce de résistance.

• two one-pound fillets [I would aim for smaller amounts of both fish and potatoes the next time I’m cooking for 4, because these amounts pretty much crowded the pan] of fresh Atlantic cod, also from P.E. & D. D. Seafood, prepared mostly following an old recipe from Mark Bittman that I had come across years ago: the cod washed and rinsed, placed in a platter [I had to use an oven pan this time, because of the size of the cod] on a bed of coarse sea salt, with more salt added on top until the piece was as completely covered as possible, set aside while a bed of potatoes was prepared for them (meaning that the cod would normally be encased in salt for about 30 minutes), by slicing nearly 2 pounds of really wonderful ‘la ratte’ potatoes from two Greenmarket sources, Phillips Farms and Mountain Sweet Berry Farm to a thickness of less than 1/4 inch, tossing the potatoes in a large bowl with olive oil, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a large pinch of light orange/gold home-dried Habanada pepper [acquired the summer before last from Norwich Meadows Farm], arranging the potatoes in a large [Bittman wrote “an 8-by-11-inch or similar size baking pan”] rectangular  enameled cast iron oven pan, placing them in a 400º oven for 25 minutes or so, or until they were tender when pierced with a knife; while the potatoes were cooking, roughy half way through those 25 minutes, the cod was removed from the salt and the platter or pan on which it had been resting, and thoroughly immersed in or soaked in many changes of cold running water, to bring down the saltiness (the soaking process somehow gives the fish more solidity, which can be easily felt while it’s being handled it at this point), drained, dried, and cut to produce 4 pieces of equal weight (I’ve gotten really good at the geometry of irregular shapes), all of them placed on top of the potatoes once they had cooked, each piece of cod drizzled with a little olive oil, some freshly-ground black pepper scattered on top, the pan returned to the oven for about 15 minutes (the exact time will always depends on the thickness of the cod), the fillets then removed with a wooden spatula (or, even better, 2 wooden spatulas), bringing along with as much of the potatoes as possible with each piece, everything arranged, as intact as possible, onto 4 plates, returning to the pan for the remainder of the potatoes, each serving garnished with micro red mustard from two Guys from Woodbridge

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• a generous amount of purple kale from Norwich Meadows Farm, wilted with olive oil inside a large enameled cast iron pot in which at least 4 halved ‘music garlic’ cloves from Windfall Farms had been allowed to sweat in more than a tablespoon of olive oil until pungent, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of fresh olive oil
• the wine was a great Portuguese (Vinho Verde) white, Vinho Verde Loureiro, Aphros 2016, from Astor Wines

There was a cool, citrus dessert, which seemed like a perfect way to end this meal, and the only ‘cooking’ involved the chopping of the topping.

• small glass bowls of Ciao Bella Sicilian Blood Orange gelato from Chelsea Whole Foods Market, sprinkled with chopped candied ginger slices from Whole Foods Market

I should have halved the potatoes, to help them appear as sweet as they tasted.

Paul pointed me toward the whole skate wing lying in the iced tub, but I had already (almost) decided that the skate was what I would be taking home. One cooked with its cartilage, and, I think, at least some of the bone, is definitely more tasty than it is when it’s been filleted, and that means it’s very very good.

There was also something entirely new to our kitchen, a harbinger of spring, which is officially only a few days away, some baby celery, the first apium graveolens of the season. The crunch is great, and the leaves are less bitter than they are when full grown.

• six Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods Market, halved, tossed gently inside a shallow bowl with less than a tablespoon of olive oil and less than one crushed peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, arranged, their cut sides down, inside a medium size glazed ceramic oven pan and roasted at 400º for about 10 minutes, after which one 20-ounce skate wing from Pura Vida Seafood, untrimmed, with cartilage and the bone where it had attached to the body wholly intact (although, before cooking it I had cut it into 2 halves, removed most of the bone and used a scissors to trim the lacy edges of the wing along the lines demonstrated in this short video) seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, transferred to the pan after moving the tomatoes to the edges, and roasted for another 15 minutes or so, when a mixture of a tablespoon of olive oil, half a tablespoon of lemon juice, half a teaspoon of good Dijon mustard, and more than a half tablespoon of rinsed salted Sicilian capers that had been whisked together just before was poured over the fish and tomatoes, the pan returned to the oven for 2 or 3 minutes, the casserole removed, its contents arranged on 2 plates, the tomatoes next to or on the skate, both garnished with the finely chopped stem and tender leaves of one small stalk of spring celery from Windfall Farms, small lemon quarters placed to the side of the plates
• one pound of very sweet small pinto potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in generously-salted water until barely cooked through, drained [and although not halved although they should have been], dried in the still-warm large vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, tossed with a chopped very small ‘yellow shallot’ from Norwich Meadows Farm, a little Trader Joe’s Italian Reserve extra virgin olive oil, and seasoned with salt and pepper, garnished with micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine was a French (Bordeaux) white, Château Haut-Dambert Entre Seux-Mers (60% Sauvignon Blanc, 25% Sauvignon Gris, 15% Muscadelle), from Foragers Wines
• the music was the album, ‘The Twenty-Fifth Hour: The Chamber Music of Thomas Adès’, performed by the Calder Quartet and Thomas Adès, piano

I began writing this blog 10 years ago today. I’ve reproduced the first modest entry below.

It appears to have been before the era of photography.

So I’m just going to add some color here, before I do anything else.

[the image, of ‘Times Square 106 Primary Red Gel Filter Sheet 10″ x 10″, is from Amazon]

Steak and French fries, and catsup.

Actually, a grass-fed local steak, celery root frites, and roasted tomatoes.

The background story is that I had gone to our local While Foods at some time after 8 in the evening yesterday intending to pick a wild Northwest Coast wild salmon fillet, as I do occasionally (and in season, they aren’t even previously frozen).  For the first time ever, I think, they had none. No problem, I could go back home and cook up an interesting pasta. But then I looked at the butcher display on my way out. This was something I hadn’t done in a very long time, since I almost always buy both meat and seafood from our local farmers and fishers in the Union Square Greenmarket, and occasionally from Ottomanelli & Sons on Bleecker.

On one of the trays inside the display case there was a single thick, beautifully-cut strip steak remaining, with a citation of its local origin on the display case window above it, including a picture of the family owners. It may not be a tiny local family farm, but it seemed to have some decent credentials, and then I saw that it was also on sale. I texted Barry to see if he felt like having beef that night, but I had really already decided our names were on it.

I’m now apologizing to my usual farmer-venders, to the Greenmarket, and to the Ottomanelli brothers for my momentary truancy. And I cannot tell a lie: The steak was pretty awesome.

• one 13-ounce grass-fed organic New Jersey (Simply Grazin’) top loin boneless strip steak, rinsed, dried on both sides with paper towels and sprinkled with sea salt, allowed to rest on the kitchen counter on a paper plate, covered loosely with wax paper, for almost an hour, then dried once again and placed inside an enameled cast iron oval pan that had already been heated above a medium-hot flame, cooked for 3 or 4 minutes on each side, or until the meat was just under medium-rare, halved crosswise and removed to 2 plates sitting on the top of the warm ancient oven, a bit of organic Chelsea Whole Foods Market lemon squeezed on top, a good amount of scissored fresh chive from Whole Foods scattered on top, and some good Trader Joe’s Italian Reserve extra virgin olive oil drizzled on the herb, allowed to sit a few minutes before serving garnished with micro red mustard from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• eight Maine cherry ‘cocktail’ tomatoes from Whole Foods, slow-roasted inside a small antique rolled-edge tin oven pan with a heaping teaspoon of dried Italian oregano from Buon Italia, half a tablespoon or more of Trader Joe’s Reserve olive oil, and 2 or 3 halved cloves of ‘music garlic’ from Windfall Farms
• one 15-ounce celery root (or celeriac) from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed, peeled, and cut into the size and shape of potato frites, each about 1/4″ in cross section, tossed inside a bowl with olive oil, a half teaspoon of Safinter Pimenton de la Vera smoked picante paprika, sea salt, and a little freshly-ground black pepper, spread onto a large seasoned  Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pan, and roasted at 425º until brown and cooked through, or for about 30 to 35 minutes, removed to the plates, and sprinkled with chopped lovage from Two Guys from Qoodbridge [Note: they were pretty spicy, so some tastes may want to use less paprika, or a version that’s less hot]
• the wine was a Spanish (Rioja) red, Bodegas Hermanos de Pecina, Rioja Cosecha Tinto, 2017, from Flatiron Wines

We’ve been huge fans of his for years, but we met Thomas Adès for the first time at the Springbreak Art Show on Sunday (I’m afraid we might have come on like groupies), so we thought it would be appropriate to revisit one of his most amazing orchestral pieces while we enjoyed our next home-cooked dinner, on Tuesday.

• the music was Thomas Adès’ 1997 orchestral composition, ‘Asyla’, his Op. 17, with Adès himself conducting the London Symphony Orchestra

[image of Thomas Adès from Classic FM]

I like the landscaping.

There were two courses. While the the image above is of the second one, I wanted to lead with it rather than with the mackerel toasts, because almost that same appetizer had shown up on this blog only recently.

In the interim I had located some fresh chives, which improves the flavor of the mix, and which I didn’t have when I first whipped up the spread on Saturday. On the other hand, by Monday, when I was ready to serve the rest of it, I had lost my supplies of small greens, so I used a few chive stems as a rudimentary bed.

• the remainder of a smoked mackerel spread that had been prepared and served two days before (one 8-ounce smoked whole mackerel from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, skinned, its flesh removed from the backbone and the larger ribs discarded as it was broken up and placed inside a bowl, where it was joined by about a third of a cup of Riverine Ranch water buffalo milk labneh, a tablespoon or more of chopped Japanese scallions, a teaspoon of zest and a tablespoon of juice from an organic Chelsea Whole Foods Market lemon, a little freshly ground black pepper, and a complex powdered Nigerian cayenne, now with the addition of a generous amount of sliced fresh chives from Chelsea Whole Foods Market, swiped onto toasted slices of a sourdough bâtard from She Wolf Bakery, and placed on a few lengths of the same chives, with lemon quarters served on the side

The fish in the main course was not smoked, and in fact it was so fresh that it had almost certainly still been swimming off Long Island when I was originally mixing the mackerel spread 2 days before.

But first a look at my shiny re-tinned au gratin pan, the midwife of the baked pollock entrée.

• two pollock fillets (a total of 20 ounces) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company, rinsed, dried, seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper, placed skin side down inside a buttered oval newly-retinned copper au gratin pan, dabbed with a mixture of softened unsalted Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ combined with zest from most of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, a little chopped ‘music garlic’ from Windfall Farms, slices of a Norwich Meadows Japanese scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm, and part of a piece of a crushed  orange/gold home-dried Habanada pepper, also from Norwich Meadows Farm, baked for about 16 or 17 minutes at 350º, removed to 2 plates and kept warm on top of the flat top of the 1936 Magic Chef oven, the little bit of cooking juices that had accumulated poured over the fillets, and a teaspoon or so of Sicilian salted capers, which had just been rinsed, drained, and dried, and heated briefly inside a small antique enameled cast iron porringer in a bit of olive oil, scattered on top of the fillets while the capers were still warm, along with the oil in which they had been heated, the pollock finished with a garnish of micro red mustard from Two guys from Woodbridge

• a handful of beautiful and absolutely delicious ‘frizzy mustard’ greens from Norwich Meadows Farm, barely heated in a little olive oil in which 2 halved cloves of garlic had been allowed to sweat a bit, seasoned with salt and pepper and finished on the plates with a drizzle of olive oil

• the wine throughout was a Spanish (Valencia) white, Celler del Roure ‘Cullerot’ Blanco 2017, from Astor Wines
• the music throughout the meal was a 2001 recording of Gluck’s 1779 ‘Iphigenie en Tauride’ (which fully embodies the composer’s operatic reforms), Marc Minkowski conducting Les Musiciens du Louvre and le Choeur des Musiciens du Louvre, with Laurent Alvaro, Mireille Delunsch, Simon Keenlyside, Yann Beuron, Laurent Naouri, Alexia Cousin, Michèle Norman-Webb, Claire Delgado-Boge, and Nicki Kennedy

Oh my.

Yes, once again we have access to some wonderful smoked local fish. After a hiatus which had saddened many of their customers, the Karlin family’s P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company, is again selling this very special fresh delicacy that originates in the hauls from its boats out of Long Island’s North Fork, .

I was worried that I might not get around to doing something with the gorgeous whole copper-colored mackerel I had picked up almost 2 weeks ago, but smoked fish has serious staying power (in fact, food preservation was its original raison d’etre).

On Saturday I skinned and deboned the fish and it with some ingredients I already lying around, and I managed to come up with some delicious toasts for assembling a small course to anticipate a good steak. There was enough for two nights, so we will probably be enjoying the remainder tonight, 2 days later, after I finish writing this.

Another thing special about the whole meal was the fact that both courses included unconventional treats from a local producer on shore, Riverine Ranch, which raises water buffalo in New Jersey, far from waters fished by the Karlin family.

• one 8-ounce smoked whole mackerel from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, skinned, its flesh removed from the backbone and the larger ribs discarded as it was broken up and placed inside a bowl, where it was joined by about a third of a cup of Riverine Ranch water buffalo milk labneh, a tablespoon or more of chopped Japanese scallions, a teaspoon of zest and a tablespoon of juice from an organic Chelsea Whole Foods Market lemon, a little freshly ground black pepper, and a complex powdered Nigerian cayenne, swiped onto toasted slices of a She Wolf Bakery miche, with lemon quarters served on the side
• delicious peppery arugula from Norwich Meadows Farm dressed with Trader Joe’s very good  Italian Reserve unfiltered olive oil, sea salt, pepper, and a drizzle of lemon juice
• the wine was a French (Gascogne) white, Mont Gravet – Côtes de Gascogne Blanc 2017, from Foragers Market Wine

The main course was a very different scheme from the first.

• one top sirloin buffalo steak (13 ounces) from Riverine Ranch, rinsed and patted dry, seasoned generously with salt and pepper, allowed to reach room temperature, seared over a medium flame, cooked 2 or 3 minutes on each side, to medium rare, the time always dependent on thickness [being careful not to overcook, or the steak would be tough, and noting that the color of this lean meat is a lot redder than beef, meaning a medium-rare buffalo steak would be the same shade of an almost rare beef steak], removed from the pan, cut in half crosswise, arranged on the plates, drizzled with a bit of lemon juice, sprinkled with chopped fresh thyme from Chelsea Whole Foods, drizzled with a little olive oil, covered loosely and allowed to rest for a couple minutes before serving

• more than a pound of red thumb potatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm, halved lengthwise, tossed with a little olive oil, salt, black pepper, a bit of crushed home-dried habanada pepper, and a pinch of crushed dried hickory smoked Jamaican Scotch bonnet pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm, arranged cut side down on a large Pampered Chef unglazed ceramic pan, roasted at about 375º for 20 minutes or so, tossed around on the pan, arranged on the plates and garnished with micro red mustard from Two Guys from Woodbridge

• fava greens, the last from the boxes at the Union Square Greenmarket stand of Alewife Farm (the restaurants got there before me), washed, drained, and gradually stirred into a medium size heavy, antique copper pot in less than a tablespoon of olive oil until they had only begun to wilt, seasoned salt and freshly-pepper, the vegetable arranged on the plates and drizzled with some more olive oil
• the wine with this course was a Portuguese (Dão) red, Casa de Mouraz Tinto, Dão 2014, from Astor Wines  

Its appearance is almost monochromatic in this photograph, but if I can use that adjective family to describe taste, our enjoyment of this entrée was polychromatic.

Also, while no sugar was added to either the fish or the vegetable, both were, oddly, and deliciously, incredibly sweet.

• one really fresh 14.5-ounce lemon sole fillet from Pura Vida Seafood, rinsed then dried thoroughly, salted on both sides (with a little freshly-ground black pepper as well), brushed with a little good Italian white wine vinegar (Aceto Cesare Bianco white wine vinegar from Buon Italia), coated with a thin layer of a local whole wheat flour from the Blew family of Oak Grove Mills in the Union Square Greenmarket, sautéed for a couple of minutes over a medium-high flame inside a very heavy vintage oval tin-lined copper pan in 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the fillet turned over and cooked for another minute or so (the exact time, or even an approximate time will always depend on the thickness of the fish and the heat of the pan), the sole removed and arranged on 2 warm plates, the pan wiped with a paper towel, then 2 tablespoons of rich Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’, 3 tablespoons of juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, and a handful of micro red mustard from Windfall Farms added, warmed for a minute or so, either over a low flame or, as the pan will still be hot, possibly none at all, the sauce poured onto the sole, and a very different micro red mustard, this one from Two Guys from Woodbridge, arranged on each plate as a garnish to one side

• a little over a pound of astoundingly good ‘red emma potatoes’ [I can’t find any information about this variety on line], from Tamarack Hollow Farm, scrubbed, boiled unpeeled in heavily-salted water until barely cooked through, drained, halved, dried in the still-warm vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pot in which they had cooked, each halved, tossed with a tablespoon or more of Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’, sprinkled with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, tossed with a pinch or more of crushed dried ripe, red shishito pepper from Lani’s Farm (I usually add some mostly for the color, but this time I picked a pepper with a bit of heat!), sliced Japanese scallions from Norwich Meadows Farm and chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• the wine, in a great pairing, was a French (Loire) white, Sancerre, Sommet Doré 2017, from Astor Wines
• the music was Schumann’s great [secular?] oratorio, ll ‘Szenen aus Goethes Faust’ (Scenes from Goethe’s Faust),  composed between 1844 and 1853, Claudio Abbado conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tölz Boys Choir, and the Swedish Radio Chorus, with soloists Bryn Terfel, Karita Mattila, Jan-HendrikRooope Rootering, Barbara Bonney, Endrik Wottrich, Brigitte Poschner-Klebel, Susan Graham, Harry Peeters, Iris Vermillion, and Hans-Peter Blochwitz [more about Schumann’s composition here]