I swear I wasn’t trying for the purple thing, but I have to admit that sometimes it can look very cool.

• three stems of spring garlic from Berried Treasures Farm, cut into one-inch lengths, sautéed until softened in a little Whole Foods Market Portuguese house olive oil and Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ inside a large rectangular, enameled cast iron pan over medium heat, then removed and discarded, or maybe set aside for another day [NOTE: this first step, in which mature garlic could be substituted at other times of the year is definitely optional, especially if the cook is in a hurry], a little more oil and butter added, the flame raised to medium-high and two nearly-8-ounce sea bass fillets from Pura Vida Seafood Company, previously rinsed, dried with paper towels, and seasoned with sea salt, added to the pan and seared, skin side down first, for 3 to 4 minutes (the skin should be nicely golden and fairly crisp by then), turned over and cooked for another minute or so, removed and placed on 2 plates, kept warm, either in a warm oven or tented with aluminum foil, and half a dozen or more tender garlic scapes from Windfall Farms sautéed briefly until softened, the scapes divided between the 2 warm plates and a bass fillet placed on or under them, finished with a generous squeeze of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, and garnished with micro red basil from Two Guys from Woodbridge, lemon wedges placed in small containers on the side of the plates

 

• one bunch of beautiful spicy purple radishes from Berried Treasures Farm, the leaves removed, rinsed in several changes of water and set aside, the radishes themselves washed, scrubbed, and cut into wedges, before they were sautéed in a little olive oil inside a copper skillet for a few minutes, one sliced small-to-medium red onion from Norwich Meadow Farm added near the end of the cooking, along with a pinch of peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, after which the reserved radish leaves, now cut very roughly, were introduced into the pan, stirred, and allowed to wilt, the vegetables sprinkled with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, a little white wine poured in and stirred until the liquid had evaporated
• the wine was a Portuguese (Alentejo) white, Esporao Alandra Branco 2016, from Garnet Wines
• the music was Jacob Cooper’s label debut album, ‘Silver Threads’, a six-song cycle performed by soprano Mellissa Hughes