Dinner was a cinch.

I really went pretty basic with the scallops this time, the tomato was almost as minimal, and the puntarelle have almost become something I could do in my sleep.

But I did manage to include a tiny (edible) bouquet on the plate (a last minute inspiration).

• eleven sea scallops (14 ounces total) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company, rinsed, dried very thoroughly with paper towels then placed in a paper plate to prevent condensation, seasoned with local Long Island sea salt from P.E. & D.D. Seafood and freshly-ground black pepper, grilled briefly (90 seconds on each side) in a very hot full size square enameled cast iron pan, finished with a squeeze of juice from an organic California lemon from Chelsea Whole Foods Market and a drizzle of Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil, arranged on the plates with a sprinkling of scissored bronze fennel, flowers and buds, from Rise & Root Farm
• slices of a baguette from She Wolf Bakery in the Union Square Greenmarket
• one small heirloom tomato from Norwich Meadows Farm, halved, sprinkled on the cut side with sea salt and black pepper, scattered with chopped leaves of pericón (Mexican tarragon) from Quarton Farm, heated gently on bot sides inside a small copper skillet, arranged on the plates with tiny sprigs of pericón flowers planted on top
• the only real central sections that remained from the puntarelle I had bought last week, and last included in a meal on Friday, prepared from scratch as described in this post, and tossed with a freshly assembled anchovy sauce (they were still delicious)
• the wine was a California (Clarksburg) white, Miriam Alexandra California Chenin Blanc 2018, from Naked Wines
• the music was Rossini’s beautiful 1821-1822 melodramma giocoso (opera semiseria) ‘Matilde di Shabran’, Riccardo Frizza conducting the Orquesta Sinfonica di Galicia, with Annick Massis and the incredibly beautiful voice of Juan Diego Florez