I looked for mackerel when I arrived at the fishmonger’s on Wednesday, since I was hoping to introduce some to the cherry tomatoes I’d been husbanding in our kitchen.

I had bought the tomatoes one week earlier, when they were less red, less ripe, less sweet, and I had kept them on a north window sill until they were perfect.

Here’e what they looked like while in the Union Square Greenmarket, still looking more orange than red.

The turnips, which I had purchased the same day I cooked them, were already very sweet. Turnips may not have been the perfect complement for this fish, but it was an interesting conversation.

• fifteen ounces of Spanish mackerel (4 fillets) from Blue Moon Fish, washed, dried, brushed lightly with olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan grilled over high heat for 6 or 7 minutes, first skin side down, turned half way through, removed and arranged on the plates with a salsa consisting of 8 ounces or so of gorgeous, perfectly ripe cherry tomatoes from Stokes Farm, halved, that had been tossed with 3 teaspoons of olive oil, a little more than a teaspoon of Sicilian salted capers (first rinsed and drained), half a tablespoon of juice from a Trader Joe’s organic lemon, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and some chopped oregano from Keith’s Farm, garnished with a little more oregano
• a handful of Hakurei turnips (or ‘ Japanese turnips’) from Willow Wisp Farm, separated from their beautiful greens, leaving a bit of stem on each, scrubbed and  halved vertically, sautéed inside a heavy medium-size tin-lined high-sided copper pan in a little olive oil, in which one thickly-sliced garlic clove from Keith’s Farm had been softened, until the vegetables had begun to color, then removed and set aside while the washed and very roughly cut greens were introduced to the pan and heated until barely wilted, the turnips returned to the pan and everything seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
• the wine was an Italian (Tuscany) rosé, Il Rose di Casanova, Casanova della Spinetta, from Philippe Wines
• the music was a great classic recording of Mozart’s ‘Le nozze di Figaro’, Georg Solti conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Opera Chorus, with Thomas Allen, Kiri Te Kanawa, Lucia Popp, Samuel Ramey, Frederica von Stade, Jane Berbié, Kurt Moll, Robert Tear, Philip Langridge, Yvonne Kenny, and Giorgio Tadeo, with Jeffrey Tate, continuo
  

It looks as good as it tasted. Mackerel is a super fish, and if the recipe chosen works with its singular qualities, there’s almost nothing better. This recipe is one of my favorites, and in fact so favorited that it’s almost my only one.

And the fillets looked great throughout, from the moment I spied them inside the fisher’s bucket in the Union Square Greenmarket until they arrived on the table.

I’m writing this the next day, and I can smell the heavenly aromas, fish and char, as I revisit them in these pictures.

And look at those lines!

• six Spanish mackerel fillets (a total of about 15 ounces) from Blue Moon Fish, washed, dried, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan grilled over high heat for 6 or 7 minutes, skin side down first, turned half way through, removed and completed on the plates with a salsa consisting of 7 ounces of gorgeous cherry tomatoes in various colors and sizes from Alewife Farm, halved,  tossed with olive oil, a teaspoon or more of Sicilian salted capers (first rinsed and drained), much of one small red Calabrian chili pepper, half a tablespoon of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon, sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a bit of spicy liquid, now slightly-fermented, that remained from a salsa prepared for the meal the night before
• haricots verts from Sycamore Farms, left whole, blanched, drained and dried in the same pan over low-medium heat, shaking, then set aside in a bowl until the fish was ready to be grilled , at which time they were reheated in a little oil inside a heavy well-seasoned cast iron pan, finished with sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and mixed with fennel buds from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm
• the wine was a French (Côtes de Provence) rosé, Rosé Chateau des Muraires Seduction 2015, from Garnet Wines
• the music was Mark Anfre’s ‘…auf…’, Sylvain Cambreling conducting the SWR Baden-Baden and the Freiburg Symphony Orchestra

We might have been satisfied with a single 10-ounce Spanish mackerel fillet rather than 2. It would have meant we’d each get only about 5 ounces of fish for dinner, which would have been a bit skimpy. The alternative was to bring home 2 of them, which is what I did on Friday.  They fit perfectly inside my favorite oval copper fish pan, but on the plates 10 ounces ended up looking like a lot of food, and I have to admit that sometimes too much of a good thing can be both good and too much.

Both of those, because, and even if, served with some gorgeous mushrooms.

And beautiful young beet greens.

• two Spanish mackerel fillets (a total of 20 ounces) from Pura Vida Fisheries, seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper, sautéed fairly gently with butter and a little olive oil inside a large, thick oval copper pan, flesh side first, then turned after about 3 minutes and the other side cooked for about the same length of time, removed and arranged across the center diameter of 2 plates when done, covered to keep warm (or, if convenient to do so, placed inside a barely-warm oven), 2 tablespoons of butter added to the pan, and then when the butter had melted about 8 ounces of roughly-chopped yellow oyster mushrooms from Blue Oyster Cultivation, tossed into the pan, sautéed, stirring, until lightly cooked, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, a couple tablespoons of chopped parsley from Norwich Meadows Farm, plus about a tablespoon (or a little more) of lemon juice added to the pan, everything briefly stirred with a wooden spatula, and the herbed mushrooms and their juices spooned on top of the mackerel, which was finished with a little more of the chopped parsley [the parsley appeared after the photo above was taken]
• some very sweet beet greens from Lucky Dog Organic Farm, wilted inside a large enameled cast iron pot with several halved garlic cloves (‘Calabrian Rose’ Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm), which had first been been allowed to sweat in olive oil, the vegetable seasoned with salt and pepper, arranged on the plates, and drizzled with fresh olive oil
• The wine was a California (grapes from the Sacramento River Delta with a small amount of Viognier from Lodi) white, Miriam Alexandra Chenin Blanc California 2016, by Alexandra Farber, from Naked Wines
• the music was Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3,  Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the Orchestre Métropolitain

We love mackerel, and I’ve cooked it often. These were definitely the biggest fillets I’ve ever grilled; I was grateful that we weren’t eating off of the 8-inch creamware plates I had used in the Providence house for years.

These large fillets were perfectly fresh, made a great presentation, especially since I got them to the plates without their coming apart (even the skin remained fully attached), and I managed to cook them to a perfect doneness.

It’s been a long time since I’d included the potato part of the basic recipe I’ve been using for years.  It was only after I had decided to do so that I realized I didn’t have any variety that would seem suitable for ‘twice-cooking’. I went with what I had, a dark blue sort-of-fingerling type.  They worked perfectly, tasted great, and looked pretty dramatic.

• two 8-ounce Spanish mackerel fillets from Pura Vida Seafood, washed, dried, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan grilled on both sides on top of a cast iron 2-burner plate over high heat for 7 minutes, skin side down first, removed and completed with a salsa consisting of 7 quartered Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods tossed with olive oil, wild brined capers which had been rinsed and drained, juice from a sweet local lemon from Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, salt, and pepper, and sprinkled with a mix of chopped lime basil and oregano from Lani’s Farm
• ten ounces of small-ish ‘blue potatoes’ (which are dark blue inside too, and stay so after cooking) from Norwich Meadows Farm, washed, scrubbed, boiled – unpeeled – until tender (about 15-20 minutes), drained, allowed to cool slightly before being cut into thirds, cooked, stirring occasionally, with a tablespoon of olive oil inside an already warmed tin-lined copper skillet, the flame immediately turned to high heat, until lightly browned in spots (that is, if you can tell), I’d say for about 5 minutes, the heat turned way down and one large clove of garlic from John D. Madura Farm added and cooked until crisp, or for about 3 more minutes, seasoned with Maldon sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper
• the wine was a California (Lodi) rosé, Karen Birmingham Rose Lodi 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was a portion of the multi-CD album, ‘Music of Morocco: Recorded by Paul Bowles, 1959‘; by way of explanation, immediately before dinner we had watched ‘Morocco’ the 1930 Josef von Sternberg classic, starring Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, and Adolphe Menjou (and it was even far better than I had expected!)

Mackerel and Mushrooms? It’s a dream dish if you add lemon, and then not much more is really needed. I found the base recipe here; I’ve worked with it twice before, once with sea bass, and it’s been terrific each time.

• three Boston mackerel fillets (a total of 15 ounces) from Pura Vida Fisheries, seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper, sautéed fairly gently with butter and a little olive oil inside a large, thick oval copper pan, flesh side first, then turned after about 3 minutes and the other side cooked for about the same length of time, removed to 2 plates when done, covered to keep warm (or placed inside a just-warm oven), 2 tablespoons of butter added to the pan, and then about 6 ounces of medium-size Shiitake mushrooms (lentinula edodes) from John D. Madura Farm, cut in half, added and sautéed while stirring until lightly cooked, seasoned with salt, pepper, after which a mix of a couple tablespoons of chopped lovage from Two Guys from Woodbridge and chopped parsley from Eataly, plus about a tablespoon (or a little more) of lemon juice was added to the pan, everything stirred before the herbed mushrooms and their juices were spooned on top of the mackerel, which was finished with a little fresh chopped lovage and parsley [in this case, after the picture was taken], garnished with some bronze micro fennel, again from Tow Guys from Woodbridge
• cavolo nero, aka black kale, or Tuscan kale, from Norwich Meadows Farm, sautéed until wilted inside a large enameled cast iron pot with olive oil in which 2 halved garlic cloves from Healthway Farms & CSA had first been heated until beginning to color, seasoned and drizzled with olive oil
• the wine was an Italian (Puglia) white, Verdeca, Angiuli – 2015, from Astor Wines
• the music was Q2 Music, streaming