At the fish stand on Friday, Paul had the very tip of a shark fin in his hand, but I went with the steaks.
- two thick 9-ounce alopias vulpinus (thresher shark) steaks, from Pura Vida Seafood Company, rubbed on both sides with most of a mixture of fresh herbs (lovage and winter savory from Keith’s Farm, and parsley from Jersey Farm Produce Inc. in the Saturday 23rd Street farmers market), all chopped together, using a chef’s knife, along with local sea salt, some partially smashed whole black pepper, 2 small cloves of ‘Chesnok Red’ garlic from Alewife Farm, a bit of zest from an organic Whole Foods Market California lemon, adding a bit of olive oil added to moisten the mix, reserving a little of the herb mixture for basting, the steaks then pan-grilled, basting throughout the cooking process with some of the reserved mixture, then and removed, ideally, while barely fully cooked in the center, arranged on the plates, finished with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil, garnished with some wonderful micro lemon balm from Two Guys from Woodbridge
- three ripe heirloom tomatoes, a red from Eckerton Hill Farm, a green and an orange from Norwich Meadows Farm each halved horizontally, the cut sides sprinkled sea salt, black pepper, chopped a bit of fresh marjoram from Stokes Farm, placed on a hot enameled grill pan, cut side up for 3 or 4 minutes, turned over and grilled for another minute, or minute and a half, arranged on the plates and sprinkled with a little more of the herb, and maybe a drizzle of olive oil
- eight small dark green Kirby cucumbers from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, sliced into bite-size cross sections, sautéed along with 2 sliced red tropea onions from Alewife Farm in a little olive oil inside a large antique copper pot until both were slightly browned, seasoned with sea salt and black pepper, sprinkled with clipped buds and blossoms of bronze fennel from Rise & Root Farm in the Union Square Greenmarket [I forgot to snap a picture while the cucumbers were still at the farm stand]
- the wine was a California (Napa/Santa Lucia Highlands) rosé, Derek Rohlffs Santa Lucia Highlands Rose 2018, from Naked Wines
- the music was an album of C.P.E. Bach Symphonies and a Cello Concerto, performed by Café Zimmermann, Pablo Valetti, violin and direction