This is a wonderful fish, and the simple recipe I used last night allows its own virtues to be fully savored.

The image immediately below is of the fillets in the marinade, and the bowl of uncooked washed and cut greens).

• two 7 1/2-ounce fillets of Squeteague (aka ‘Weakfish’ or Sea/Ocean Trout) from American Seafood Company, marinated for about half an hour on the counter in a mix of a little olive oil, one minced garlic clove, and 5 different herbs (2 crushed fresh bay leaves from West Side Market, fresh oregano from Stokes Farm; fresh parsley, thyme, and mint from Eataly; and fresh tarragon from Whole Foods), drained, sautéed/fried for about 2 minutes in a heavy, lightly-oiled (one tablespoon), tin-lined oval copper pan which had been pre-heated to medium-hot, skin-slide down first, the fillets then turned and cooked for another minute, until opaque and firm, drizzled with some of the marinade and served

Resting inside a tub in the Greenmarket earlier that day – near the end of January – the collards were totally irresistible.

• young collards from Norwich Meadows Farm, cut as a very rough chiffonade, braised until barely softened inside a heavy enameled cast iron pot in which one halved clove of quartered garlic from Lucky Dog Organic Farm had first been allowed to sweat in some olive oil, the greens finished with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil

There was a very good cheese course, but I neglected to photograph it.

• three cheeses, ‘Arethusa Blue’, a Connecticut blue cow cheese from Eataly, Consider Bardwell’s ‘Slybro’ goat cheese, and their ‘Barden’ blue cow cheese, served with slices of a very fresh, extraordinarily delicious She Wolf Bakery sourdough baguette

 

• the wine throughout was a California (Napa) white, Sin Fronteras Chardonnay Napa 2015, from Naked Wines
• the music throughout was Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6, Daniel Barenboim conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

The weakfish is a noble fish, but it is not a trout. It’s generally marketed as ‘ocean trout’, since ‘weakfish’ apparently projects a less-than-positive image to potential consumers. The ‘weak’ part is actually only the fish’s jaw, which tears apart easily when it is hooked (ouch), meaning it can easily escape from an angler.

I spent 20 years in Rhode Island, around waters where it was a familiar catch, and the Narragansetts‘ name for the species, ‘Squeteague‘, sounds right to me.

It’s delicious whatever you call it.

• small Squeteague fillets from Pura Vida Seafood, marinated for almost an hour in the refrigerator, in a mix of a little olive oil, a crushed bay leaf, one minced garlic clove, and 6 different herbs, drained, allowed to come to room temperature, sautéed/fried for about 2 minutes in a large lightly-oiled cast-iron skillet which had been pre-heated to medium-hot, skin-slide down first, the fillets then turned and cooked for another minute, until opaque and firm, drizzled with a rich vegetarian garum-like liquid consisting of savoury juices I had retained from earlier meals

• various kinds of small green and yellow summer squash from Norwich Meadows Farm, cut into 1/4″ slices, tossed in olive oil, sea salt, and freshly-ground pepper, pan-grilled, removed to a bowl where the they was tossed with a few pitted and sliced Kalamata olives, one small finely-chopped red Calabrian pepper from Campo Rosso Farm, a little lemon juice, and chopped peppermint from Stokes Farm
• the wine was an Italian (Sardinia, Argiolas) rosé, Serra Lori Rosato Isola dei Nuraghi IGT 2015
• the music was Q2 Music, streaming