I like the landscaping.

There were two courses. While the the image above is of the second one, I wanted to lead with it rather than with the mackerel toasts, because almost that same appetizer had shown up on this blog only recently.

In the interim I had located some fresh chives, which improves the flavor of the mix, and which I didn’t have when I first whipped up the spread on Saturday. On the other hand, by Monday, when I was ready to serve the rest of it, I had lost my supplies of small greens, so I used a few chive stems as a rudimentary bed.

• the remainder of a smoked mackerel spread that had been prepared and served two days before (one 8-ounce smoked whole mackerel from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, skinned, its flesh removed from the backbone and the larger ribs discarded as it was broken up and placed inside a bowl, where it was joined by about a third of a cup of Riverine Ranch water buffalo milk labneh, a tablespoon or more of chopped Japanese scallions, a teaspoon of zest and a tablespoon of juice from an organic Chelsea Whole Foods Market lemon, a little freshly ground black pepper, and a complex powdered Nigerian cayenne, now with the addition of a generous amount of sliced fresh chives from Chelsea Whole Foods Market, swiped onto toasted slices of a sourdough bâtard from She Wolf Bakery, and placed on a few lengths of the same chives, with lemon quarters served on the side

The fish in the main course was not smoked, and in fact it was so fresh that it had almost certainly still been swimming off Long Island when I was originally mixing the mackerel spread 2 days before.

But first a look at my shiny re-tinned au gratin pan, the midwife of the baked pollock entrée.

• two pollock fillets (a total of 20 ounces) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood Company, rinsed, dried, seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper, placed skin side down inside a buttered oval newly-retinned copper au gratin pan, dabbed with a mixture of softened unsalted Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ combined with zest from most of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, a little chopped ‘music garlic’ from Windfall Farms, slices of a Norwich Meadows Japanese scallion from Norwich Meadows Farm, and part of a piece of a crushed  orange/gold home-dried Habanada pepper, also from Norwich Meadows Farm, baked for about 16 or 17 minutes at 350º, removed to 2 plates and kept warm on top of the flat top of the 1936 Magic Chef oven, the little bit of cooking juices that had accumulated poured over the fillets, and a teaspoon or so of Sicilian salted capers, which had just been rinsed, drained, and dried, and heated briefly inside a small antique enameled cast iron porringer in a bit of olive oil, scattered on top of the fillets while the capers were still warm, along with the oil in which they had been heated, the pollock finished with a garnish of micro red mustard from Two guys from Woodbridge

• a handful of beautiful and absolutely delicious ‘frizzy mustard’ greens from Norwich Meadows Farm, barely heated in a little olive oil in which 2 halved cloves of garlic had been allowed to sweat a bit, seasoned with salt and pepper and finished on the plates with a drizzle of olive oil

 

• the wine throughout was a Spanish (Valencia) white, Celler del Roure ‘Cullerot’ Blanco 2017, from Astor Wines
• the music throughout the meal was a 2001 recording of Gluck’s 1779 ‘Iphigenie en Tauride’ (which fully embodies the composer’s operatic reforms), Marc Minkowski conducting Les Musiciens du Louvre and le Choeur des Musiciens du Louvre, with Laurent Alvaro, Mireille Delunsch, Simon Keenlyside, Yann Beuron, Laurent Naouri, Alexia Cousin, Michèle Norman-Webb, Claire Delgado-Boge, and Nicki Kennedy

I didn’t start early enough to prepare the ‘tomato water’ which was a part of a recipe I had used for this wonderful fish last July. The other problem I had last night was that I didn’t want to turn on the oven, a step necessary for my second favorite treatment of tautog (blackfish), so I improvised.

I used the basics of Melissa Clark’s recipe, but left out the tomato water, instead I added some incredibly sweet and flavorful small, ripe cherry tomatoes (in several shades of both orange and red) I had picked up the same day.

The fish was really, really good. This new recipe will be my new first choice, at least until I need variety again.

The vegetable was serendipity and one of my favorites, for accompanying fish, meat, pasta – anything – also by itself, raw, as a terrific appetizer:  A beautiful bulb of fennel ended up on the counter last night, the gift of a friend.

• two 6-ounce fillets of tautog, or blackfish, from Pura Vida Fisheries [prepared following a recipe by Melissa Clark published in the Times four years ago, substituting a mix of excellent cayenne pepper and a dulce paprika for Aleppo pepper], seasoned with salt, black pepper, and a few pinches of a mix of sweet Spanish paprika and Nigerian cayenne pepper, placed in a large heavy oval copper pan over a medium-low flame, a mix of a few Moroccan and Gaeta olives from Buon Italia, pitted and chopped, scattered around the fish, the fillets cooked for about 4 minutes, flipped and cooked for another 4 minutes, near the end of which time a couple handfuls of some awesome cherry tomatoes from Norwich Meadows Farm were tossed into the pan, stirred and allowed to begin to break down, the fish and the olives transferred to 2 plates, the tomatoes spooned around the fillets, and everything sprinkled with NYC basil from Gotham Greens via Whole Foods and peppermint from Stokes Farm, both torn, topped with a drizzle of good olive oil and some flaky Maldon salt
• a small fennel bulb and its tender stems, from From Fishkill Farms, via the CSA allotment of a colleague of Barry’s, bulb cut into wedges, stems cut into segments, sautéed in a large iron pan over medium high heat with 2 whole crushed garlic cloves from Willow Wisp Farm, a small amount of crushed dried Sicilian peperoncino from Buon Italia, and some Italian fennel seeds until the fresh fennel began to color, then, with the heat lowered and the pan covered, cooked for ten more minutes, occasionally stirring, seasoned, and a generous amount of chopped fennel fronds added at the end

There was a very small cheese course

• the cheeses were ‘Coupole’, a goat cheese from Vermont Creamery, via Foragers Market, and 2 cheeses from Consider Bardwell Farm, ‘Slybro’ (also goat) and Rupert (cow); the grapes were ‘champagne’, from Caradonna Farms; the herbs were a bit of basil and mint leftover from the entrée

 

• the wine throughout was a French (Bordeaux) white, Château Ducasse Bordeaux Blanc 2015, with an grape blend of 60% Sémillon, 35% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Muscadelle, the large proportion of Sémillon, being unusual for the region
• the music was Antonio Vivaldi’s 1737 opera, ‘Catone in Utica’, Alan Curtis conducting Il Complesso Barocco

I cannot say enough about these crab cakes as a concept!   They’re not only delicious, but also incredibly simple to prepare, can be quickly put onto the table, and, possibly most importantly – at least for people like ourselves – extremely useful they are when the cook is unable to go outside foraging for a dinner entrée.

The last item in that list of virtues assumes that the package had been kept frozen in the freezer, but defrosted in time for a quick sauté.  I don’t know how long it takes a package of two crab cakes to defrost in the refrigerator, but I usually manage to have the foresight to move them there before going to bed the night before I expect to serve them.

The crab cakes I use, pre-cooked and packaged in twos, are from the PE & DD Seafood stand, which can be found in the Union Square Greenmarket on both Saturdays and Mondays, and I usually pick up a package on my every visit.

I neglected to mention one other virtue of this particular form of this particular order of decapoda:  Crabs can be difficult, but this represents certainly the most accessible way – by far – to enjoy one of the most supremely delicious kinds of seafood available.

An interesting aspect of putting together a dinner with crab cakes is that, at least in my own experience, it inspires improvisation in the sauce or condiment, and welcomes creativity in the treatment of the vegetables which will share the plate, including the assembly of things which are not normally combined, or even featured as sides.

• crab cakes from PE & DD Seafood (ingredients: crab, egg, flour, red & green peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, milk, celery, parsley), heated in a heavy iron pan, three or four minutes to each side, served on top of a fresh tomato sauce composed of the tomatoes set aside after I had made ‘tomato water’ for a tautog fillet a few nights earlier
• mixed baby greens from Lani’s Farm, dressed with good olive oil, lemon, salt, and pepper
• small, tender garlic scapes from Lucky Dog Organic, cut into approximately one-inch lengths, sautéed, seasoned, sprinkled with a little bit of torn Full Bloom Market Garden basil from Whole Foods and spearmint from Phillips Farm
• the wine was an Argentinian white, Guenguenheim Valle EscondidoTorrontés 2014
• the music was Bach’s Orchestral Suites