Continuing a series of minimal dinners, last night I placed one great fish and one great vegetable on the table, using a pretty light hand in preparing each.

I got to the Greenmarket just in time to pick up the last of Haifa’s and Zaid’s Japanese eggplants (the last of the day, that is).

• two 7-ounce sea bass fillets from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, dipped in a mixture of an egg from Millport Dairy and several tablespoons of chopped parsley from Norwich Meadows Farm, the fish then dredged in a local North Country Farms Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour, sautéed inside a heavy oval tin-lined copper pan for a couple minutes in a mixture of butter and olive oil, first skin side down, then turned and cooked for another 2 minutes, or until the fish was cooked through (the time will vary with the size of the fillets and the height of the flame), removed from the pan and arranged on the plates, where it was sprinkled with the juice of an organic lemon from Whole Foods, and dressed with the pan juices which had been mixed with still more chaopped parsley after the fillets had been removed
• six quite small Japanese eggplants from Norwich Meadows Farm, each cut in half  lengthwise, brushed with a mixture of olive oil, finely-chopped Christopher Garlic Ranch garlic from Eataly, chopped peppermint from Lani’s Farm, sea salt, and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, the eggplant pan-grilled, turning once or more, then arranged on an oval platter, sprinkled with more chopped peppermint, and drizzled with a little olive oil
• the wine was a California (Lake County) white, Dancing Crow Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Lake County 2015, from Chelsea Wine Vault
• the music was Vivaldi’s 1738 opera, ‘L’oracolo In Messenia’ Fabio Biondi conducting Europa Galante