I could say the meal was all about micro ‘Bull’s Blood’ beet greens, but that wouldn’t be quite accurate.

 

In fact I had decided on the two pollock fillets first, and then I spotted the purple ‘greens’ across the way.

 

Whatever. But the plate sure was pretty.

• two 8-ounce pollock fillets from from American Seafood, seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper, placed in a buttered copper au gratin pan, spread with a mixture of soft butter, zest from a local Lemon grown by Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, and some finely-scissored tiny wild garlic bulbs and stems from Lani’s Farm, baked 12 to 15 minutes at 350º, removed to 2 plates, drizzled with the cooking juices, sprinkled with a small number of salted capers which had been rinsed, drained, dried, and briefly heated in a little hot olive oil (the oil in that pan also drizzled over the fish), finished with micro ‘Bull’s Blood’ beet greens from Windfall Farms
• frisée-like mustard greens from Lani’s Farm, wilted in a little oil which had already warmed a halved clove of bruised garlic from John D. Madura Farm, seasoned with salt and pepper, finished with a drizzle of oil
• the wine was an Oregon (Willamette) white, Kings Ridge Oregon Pinot Gris 2014
• the music was early Peter Maxwell-Davies chamber works, from this album

Pollock is a favorite with both of us, and the micro sorrel which I found at the Greenmarket a few minutes after walking away with the fillet became a star when I combined the two.  My sighting the little greens was especially lucky because I did not have any chives at home, and it was that fine little allium which I had worked with in preparing this dish before.

• one 15-ounce pollock fillet from P.E. & D.D. Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, split into two pieces, seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper, placed in a buttered copper au gratin pan, spread with a mixture of soft butter, zest from what may have been a Frost Lisbon Lemon, grown locally by Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, and some micro sorrel greens from Windfall Farms, baked 12 to 15 minutes at 350º, removed to 2 plates, spread with the cooking juices, sprinkled with a small number of salted capers which had been rinsed, drained, dried, and briefly heated in a little hot olive oil, the fillets finished with additional, fresh sorrel
• purple winter kale from Tamarack Hollow Farm, wilted with olive oil in which one slightly-crushed Calabrian Rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm had been allowed to heat until pungent
• half a dozen Maine cherry ‘cocktail’ tomatoes from Whole Foods, slow-roasted along with a generous amount of dried Italian oregano from Buon Italia, olive oil, and two more garlic cloves, halved, from Keith Farm
• the wine was an Oregon (Willamette Valley) white, Ponzi Pinot Gris Willamette Valley 2014
• the music was several of quartets by David Matthews

Yes.  And colorful.

 

• two 8-ounce pollock fillets from American Pride Seafood in the Union Square Greenmarket, seasoned with salt and pepper and placed in a buttered baking dish, spread with a mixture of soft butter, zest from what may have been a Frost Lisbon Lemon, grown locally by Fantastic Gardens of Long Island, and scissored whole baby chive plants from Rogowski Farm, baked 12 to 15 minutes at 350º, removed to plates and spread with the cooking juices and sprinkled with a small number of salted capers which had been rinsed, drained, dried, before being briefly heated in a little hot olive oil
• a handful of golden radishes from Lani’s Farm, roasted at 400º for about 20 minutes on a small ceramic oven pan with branches of thyme from Stokes Farm, then sprinkled with more thyme, now chopped
• two quite small purple (lilac?) cauliflower heads from from Van Houtem Farms, cored, the florets separated from each other, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, spread on another ceramic pan and roasted in the same hot oven, for barely 15 minutes, since they were so tender, then finished with chopped parsley from Whole Foods

• the wine was a California white, David Akiyoshi Chardonnay Clarksburg 2014, from Naked Wines
• the music was, early in the meal, Schubert’s ‘Trout Quintette’, streaming from Yle Klassinen as, Schubert: Forellikvintetto (Emanuel Ax, piano, Guarneri-kvartetti, sekä Julius Levine, kontrabasso), followed by a Moscow Studio Archives recording of Alfred Schnittke’s ‘Concerto Grosso No. 1 / Cello Concerto No. 1’

…plus that wonderful February surprise, baby leeks.

 

I was at the American Seafood stall in the Greenmarket, looking for something which I had not prepared recently, but also something which was not particularly expensive. Both conditions would be important last night, because once again a commitment would keep us away from the apartment for part of the evening and I wasn’t really going to have much time to make a dinner.

I feel compelled to say that the event was Cynthia Carr’s fascinating illustrated talk about David Wojnarowicz, at the Anthology Film Archives.

I had spotted the pollock fillets almost immediately.  I thought I could remember my earlier encounter with the fish had been a success, but I double checked by using my phone to look at our food blog (it’s actually why the site was created in the first place) before I made my choice.

This time I tried a treatment which was very different from my earlier outings with the great North American pollack.

• smallish German Butterball potatoes from Mountain Sweet Berry Farm, parboiled in salted water until nearly cooked through, drained, steamed dry, halved, and spread in an oven pan with halved Backyard Farms Maine cocktail tomatoes from Whole Foods, both vegetables seasoned with salt and pepper, nestled with two 7-ounce pollock fillets from American Seafood seasoned and wrapped in four slices of Colameco’s prosciutto, the pan then scattered with one sliced baby leek from Rogowski Farm, and drizzled with olive oil [the recipe was basically that of Kate McCullough, via Jamie Oliver)
• Brussels sprouts from from John D. Maderna Farm, tossed with salt, pepper, and some olive oil, and roasted in a 400º oven for about half an hour
• the wine was a South African white, Bayten Sauvignan Blanc 2013

This meal was almost an exact repeat of one we enjoyed two months ago, except for some of the details of the ingredients and their sources, and the fact that this time I cut the single fillet into six pieces rather than four before breading and sautéing them. Also, there were more fennel fronds involved – because they were there, and because I really love them.

This is the somewhat feverish post I published in August, where I included two images; the description of last night’s meal is below.

• a one-pound pollock fillet from Pura Vida, cut into six sections, dredged in seasoned flour, sautéed in olive oil over a fairly high flame, served with a salsa fresca (assembled just before the fish was begun) of halved red and gold cherry tomatoes from Berried Treasures, minced garlic from Garden of Spices Farm and a minced small onion from Phillips Farm, chopped lovage from Keith’s Farm, a whole fresh yellow Thai pepper from Norwich Meadows Farm, sherry vinegar, salt, and pepper [the basic recipe is from Mark Bittman’s “Fish Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking”];   the vegetable accompaniment was a separated bulb of fennel from Norwich Meadow Farms sautéed over medium high heat with garlic, chiles, and fennel seeds in a large iron pan until the fennel began to color, then, with the heat lowered and the pan covered, cooked for ten minutes, a very generous amount of chopped fennel fronds added at the end [the “Slow-cooked fennel” recipe is from “Italian Easy: Recipes from the London River Cafe“]
• the wine was a Portuguese white, Aveleda Douro D.O.C. 2012