I’m still not used to my forays with some of the finer kinds of white fish ending up as splendidly as lately they sometimes have. This was one of the very best.

It all started in the Union Square Greenmarket, as always.

That image is of only one of the 3 or 4 reservoirs of iced seafood that I faced when I arrived.

I through up my hands looking in frustration looking at the huge variety, so I texted Barry a list of just some of what was at the fish monger’s stall that morning, and asked, “skatefish, monkfish, tuna, swordfish, small bluefish, scallops, pollock, cod, black sea bass, squid, lemon sole, or flounder?”

He decided on the bass.

I also picked up some of the most beautiful mushrooms and kale I had ever seen.

• two 8-ounce Black Sea Bass fillets from Pura Vida Seafood Company, washed, dried, seasoned on both sides with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, sautéed for 2 to 3 minutes over a fairly brisk flame with butter and a little olive oil inside a large, vintage thick-copper oval long-handled pan, skin side down, then turned over and the other side cooked for about the same length of time, removed when done and arranged on 2 warm plates (I had them inside the oven, set to its lowest temperature), otherwise covered at least a little to retain their warmth, then, with 2 tablespoons of butter added to the pan, 4 ounces of chestnut mushrooms [“Chestnut mushrooms are the mushroom everyone wants, they just don’t know it yet.“] from Ramble Creek Farm‘s stall in the Union Square Greenmarket, that had been cut up, mostly just into 2 pieces (just detaching the lobes from the stems), sautéed, stirring, until lightly cooked, seasoned with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, adding a pinch each of 2 crushed dried peppers, one hot and one with no heat whatsoever (hickory smoked Jamaican Scotch bonnet from Eckerton Hill Farm, and home dried habanada pepper), a couple tablespoons of chopped parsley from Phillips Farms, and a tablespoon and a half of the juice of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, the mushrooms stirred some more, everything in the pan then spooned onto the plates at one end of the fish (the skin of the bass is too beautiful to cover up)
• some 5 ounces of purple winterbor kale from from Central Valley Farm, the leaves stripped from their stems, washed in several changes of water, chopped roughly, wilted in a little with olive oil in which 2 garlic cloves from Chelsea’s 8th Avenue Foragers Market, flattened then sliced in half, were allowed to heat until pungent, the greens seasoned with salt, black pepper, and a drizzle of fresh olive oil

• there was otherwise no reason to include bread in this meal, but near the end of the meal the juices, mostly from the mushrooms, that hadn’t been soaked up by the fish, were asking for it, and I don’t need any excuse for the chance to enjoy a slice of my current favorite bread, ‘Pane da Tavola’, from Lost Bread Co.
• the wine was a French (Burgundy/Macon) white, Domaine Michel Barraud, Macon-Villages ‘Les Pierres’ 2016, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was the album, ‘Night Songs’, by Helen Grimes 

I have no idea how it came together so perfectly tonight, but this was one of the best sea bass entrées I’ve ever brought to the table.

I’ve just realized, as I write this, how few ingredients went into this entrée. The bass included only olive oil and butter, the mushrooms the remaining fish juices, a little more butter, lemon, and parsley. The cress had a tiny bit of olive oil, and the micro radish of course went bare.

• two 8-ounce Black sea bass fillets from American Seafood Company, washed, dried, seasoned on both sides with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, sautéed for 2 to 3 minutes over a fairly brisk flame with butter and a little olive oil inside a large, vintage thick-copper oval long-handled pan, skin side down, then turned over and the other side cooked for about the same length of time, removed when done and arranged on 2 warm plates (I had them inside the oven, set to its lowest temperature), otherwise covered at least a little to retain their warmth, then 2 tablespoons of butter added to the pan, plus 6 ounces of oyster mushrooms [pleurotus ostreatus] from the Bulich Mushroom Company‘s stall in the Union Square Greenmarket, as is virtually everything else involved in this or most of these meals, cut into large-ish pieces (in this case, mostly just detaching the lobes from the centers), sautéed, stirring, until lightly cooked, the mushrooms seasoned with salt, pepper, adding both a couple tablespoons of some very well packaged parsley from Eataly, chopped, and a tablespoon and a half of the juice of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, the mushrooms stirred some more before both everything in the pan was spooned onto or at the side of the fish (I think the skin of the bass is too beautiful to entirely disguise), the edge of the plate garnished with micro purple radish from Windfall Farms
• a delicious, chewy ‘original multigrain baguette’ from Bread Alone, not really sliced, but broken up at the table
• some leaves cut from a living upland cress plant brought home in the snow that afternoon from Two Guys from Woodbridge, drizzled with a very little bit of very good Trader Joe’s Italian Reserve extra virgin olive oil
• the wine was a great Portuguese (Vinho Verde) white, Vinho Verde Loureiro, Aphros 2016, from Astor Wines
• the music was the 14-year-old Mozart”s 1770 opera seria, ‘Mitridate, rè di Ponto’, with Christophe Rousset conducting Les Talens Lyriques

One and a half fillets, fried perfectly this time.

Normally I insist on an even number when there are 2 of us, but this time there were 3 fillets, weighing exactly one pound. I was aiming for about a pound of fish, but my only other choices for a divisor for two people would have been 2 fillets for 10.5 ounces, of 4 for 19.5 ounces. I decided I could  halve one of the 3 without sacrificing the plate aesthetic, and that’s what I Went with.

I got the color right (what looks like carbonized areas were not, just more intense), but the most important thing is always the flavor; I include texture in that noun, and this time I really scored: The bass was delicious, and the skin was crisp. I’ve now borrowed Hank Shaw’s technique several times, from his piece, ‘Perfect Seared Fish‘, and I think I’m getting the hang of it.

There was also a brief drama, when the oil I was using, which has a relatively low flash point, caught fire inside the pan and I had to blow out the flame – 3 times.

• before the main course we nibbled on some extraordinarily delicious farm-made potato chips (Kennebec potatoes, sea salt, rice bran oil) from Rick Bishop’s Mountain Sweet Berry Farm in Roscoe, New York

And then there was the fish.

• three 5-ounce striped bass filets from Pura Vida Seafood Company removed from the refrigerator, salted a little, allowed to rest at room temperature for almost half an hour, the skin sides then scraped with a butter knife to remove excess moisture, both sides patted with a paper towel until thoroughly dry, after which, once a seasoned steel pan had been heated above a high flame, a tablespoon or a little more of Mac Nut macademia nut oil from Chelsea Whole Foods Market was poured into the pan, being careful to avoid spilling any oil onto the flame below the pan [see above], then, holding the handle, swirled to cover the bottom and heat the oil in the process, the 3 filets placed skin side down inside the pan, immediately jiggled to ensure that the fish doesn’t stick, the top or flesh side of the filets quickly seasoned with sea salt, to taste, the heat turned down to medium-high, the filets pressed down lightly with a spatula for 30 to 60 seconds, to ensure that the skin browns evenly and the fillets don’t curl, cooked without moving them for 3 or 4 minutes, and, because these fillets were small, either constantly spooning the hot oil over the flesh side until the meat turned opaque, or, once their outside edges had cooked, turning the fillets over for a minute or two to finish their cooking, the fish removed to a warm platter and the heat turned off altogether, a couple tablespoons of a rich butter swirled into the pan so it melted swiftly, a tablespoon of fresh tarragon from Whole Foods Market added and pushed around, the pan tilted, the sauce scraped to the bottom and poured onto the plates, the filets then placed on top of the sauce
• a small handful of sunflower sprouts from Windfall Farms
• a mix of small red Kyoto carrots and more familiar loose orange carrots, both from Norwich Meadows Farm, scrubbed and dried, tossed inside a bowl with a little olive oil, salt, black pepper, more than half of a teaspoon of crushed Italian fennel seed, and a bit of crushed dried habanada pepper, arranged inside a large unglazed ceramic Pampered Chef oven pan, roasted at 400º for about 30 minutes, or until tender, arranged on the plates and garnished with micro purple radish from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• slices of a ‘Seedy Grains’ loaf from Philadelphia’s Lost Bread Company, whose ingredients are wheat, spelt, rye, and barley organic bread flours; buckwheat; oats; and 4 seeds (flax, sesame, sunflower, and pumpkin); water, and salt

There was a small cheese course, but I didn’t photograph it this time.

• two excellent cheeses, a new one, still in development, a washed rind buffalo milk from Riverine Ranch, something like a German Munster or Danish havarti; and their classic medium-firm goat cheese, ‘Manchester’, from Consider Bardwell Farm
• lightly-toasted very thin slices of Lost Bread Company’s ‘Seedy Grains’

 

• the wine throughout was a French (Burgundy) white, Domaine de Grisy, Bourgogne Blanc 2017, from Flatiron Wines
• the music throughout was a 2001 recording of Purcell’s 1692 masque, or semi-opera, ‘The Fairy Queen’, Ottavio Danton conducting Accademia Bizantina, and the New English Voices, directed by Michael McCarthy, with Carolyn Sampson, Andrew Carwood, Michael Bundy, Gillian Keith, Rebecca Outram, William Towers, and Robert Murray

It was a very hot afternoon, and the bass lying on ice inside the fisher’s plexiglas-top display case at Saturday’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street caught my eye. Even though we’d enjoyed some only 2 weeks earlier, it’s a fine fish and I knew I’d be able to cook these filets on top of the gas range, so they came home with me.

We got along very well.

• the preparations began with a salsa, assembled about 30 minutes in advance inside a small bowl, which incorporated one cup of a mix of halved red and golden cherry tomatoes from Alex’s Tomato Farm, about half a cup of pitted and halved kalamata olives from Whole Foods Market, a little crushed dried peperoncino Calabresi secchia from Buon Italia, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a pinch of crushed dried golden/orange habanada pepper, and a little olive oil, the mix set aside while the fish was cooked: four 4.5-ounce black sea bass fillets from American Seafood Company, seasoned on both sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, sautéed over a fairly brisk flame in a little Mac Nut  macademia nut oil from Whole Foods Market inside a large enameled cast iron pan, skin side down, turned after about 2-3 minutes, the other side cooked for about the same length of time, removed to 2 plates when done, 2 tablespoons of butter added to the pan and allowed to melt, a couple tablespoons of chopped spearmint from Keith’s Farm and chopped parsley from John D. Madura Farms then tossed in, along with a tablespoon or more of Whole Foods Market organic lemon juice, and stirred into the butter for a few seconds, the sauce spooned on top of the bass, the salsa set aside earlier arranged in a cascade between the filets, and both fish and salsa garnished with some wonderful pungent dill flowers from Windfall Farms
• two whole, integral spring fennel bulbs from Alewife Farm, washed, the stems removed, trimmed of their fronds (the finest chopped and set aside) and cut into one-inch lengths, the bulbs themselves, cut into wedges, the stem sections sautéed for a few minutes over medium high heat with half a tablespoons of dry Sicilian fennel seeds, the bulb wedges following, along with a sliced young, or spring onion bulb from Berried Treasures Farm, until the pieces had all begun to color, the heat then lowered, the pan covered and the fennel cooked for another 10 minutes, maybe less, or until softened, the reserved fronds added at the end
• the wine was a California (Santa Lucia Highlands/Monterey County) rosé, 99 Barrels Derek Rohlffs Santa Lucia Highlands Rosé, from Naked Wines
• the music was an album we had first enjoyed almost 2 years ago, a superb performance of Antonio Vivaldi’s 1733 opera, ‘Motezuma’, Alan Curtis conducting Il Complesso Barocco, with Vito Priante, Marijana Mijanovic, Inga Kalna, Roberta Invernizzi, Romina Basso, Maité Beaumont, et al. [as I wrote then, the synopsis of this rendering of the historical Cortez-Montezuma encounter describes a totally unhistorical shappy ending for the Aztec imperial couple that reminded me of the charming fantasies Melina Mercouri maintained in the film, ‘Never on Sunday‘, about the happy denouements of all of the Greek tragedies: “And then they all go together to the seashore!”

 

 

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