bluefish ‘Greek style’; Jamaica burr cucumber, Cuban mint

This little restaurant doesn’t seem to have a theme, unless it’s described by the source for 97% of the ingredients used in the preparation of the meals it serves, that is, local farmers, fishers, and bakers. How else to explain pasta with peppers and tomato one night, sausage, kraut and boiled potatoes the next, and a fish fillet with Mediterranean and Jamaican vegetables the day after that?

There’s also the whim factor.

And the occasional very welcome input from the suppliers: On Wednesday the fisherman himself told me, “If you’re ever going to have blue, this is the time”, explaining that the ones he was showing had been caught the day before, probably by himself. We did have blue that night. It tasted as fresh as the report suggested, and it was absolutely wonderful.

Here is our fillet resting on the kitchen counter:

And here inside the au gratin pan, just before being put into the oven:

  • one 15-ounce bluefish from Warren at American Seafood Company in the Union Square Greenmarket, rinsed, cut into 2 sections, rubbed with olive oil and a little Columela Rioja 30 Year Reserva sherry vinegar, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, placed inside a vintage oval tin-lined copper au gratin pan, sprinkled liberally with a very pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia and part of a serrano red pepper segment from Central Valley Farm, chopped, covered/layered with thin slices of one small red onion rom Norwich Meadows Farm, thin slices of one large ripe ripe orange heirloom tomato and 2 small green heirloom tomatoes from Berried Treasures Farm, and more than a tablespoon of chopped fresh oregano buds from Norwich Meadows Farm; plus 8 or 9 pitted Gaeta olives from Eataly and several thin slices of a Whole Foods Market organic lemon, the pan then placed inside a 425º oven and baked for about 15 minutes

  • Jamaican burr cucumbers [Cucumis anguria] (while all cucumbers are originally from South Asia , these are indigenous to Africa, but have now become naturalized in the New World) from Norwich Meadows Farm, quartered, sautéed in olive oil until lightly browned, tossing in and stirring one thinly-sliced fresh habanada pepper, from Oak Grove Plantation, near the end, seasoned with sea salt, tossed with torn mojito mint/Cuban mint [L. mentha x villosa] from Willow Wisp Farm