Note to self:  The fish was astoundingly good, in both taste and texture, and the vegetables, which actually happened to be what I had on hand, excellent accompaniments.

 

There really are other fish in the sea. And some of them are scrumptious.

Please do not tell anyone about the ‘sea robin’, or ‘gurnard’, who might not discover this post on their own;  its impecunious devotees might become very angry with me if the news of its virtues were broadcast too widely.  This delicious, yet widely and unfairly disparaged fish, is incredibly tasty, very inexpensive, and, in our experience on this occasion at least, without bones.   Found in abundance in seas from Southern New England and New York to Cape Hatteras, the species is among the least expensive, and apparently least endangered, of any of those harvested from our local waters; I can attest to their numbers anecdotally, having actually gone out into local coastal waters to pull in some cousins of theirs who are generally regarded as a far more desirable catch.

Now I can also attest to their toothsomeness.

The price of Sea Robin reflects its demand (pretty weak) and its supply (a seeming abundance).  $5.45 was enough to bring home the six fillets, which weighed a total of about .82 pounds, an amount which worked out perfectly as portion for two.

I found almost no information on their cooking (even Mark Bittman is silent on this species, in his book and anywhere else on line), but since our Sea Robin is related to the Mediterranean Rascasse, I searched under that name and came up with this recipe, for Rascasse à la tapenade.  Since deciding to use it, I’ve come across a couple more, and I expect to take advantage of my new, small inspirational ‘index card’ recipe bounty following future visits to my local fish mongers.

• six small fillets of sea robin, aka ‘gurnard’, from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, rinsed, pat dry, then placed in a pan of sizzling olive oil and sautéed over medium-high heat for barely 2 minutes on each side, transferred to two plates, a little lemon squeezed on top and a bit of a tapenade sauce* spread over the fillets, which were garnished with fresh basil off of a plant from Full Bloom Market Garden in Whately, Massachusetts, purchased at Whole Foods and currently happy in one of our south windows
• a few purple okra from Lani’s Farm, remaining from the batch we enjoyed yesterday, again sautéed in olive oil with crushed dried chiles in an iron pan over a high flame, seasoned with salt and pepper
• a salad of tiny golden cherry tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm and two very ripe Maine cherry ‘cocktail’ tomatoes from Whole Foods, dressed with a good olive oil, salt. pepper, a few drops of balsamic vinegar, and chopped fresh oregano from Lani’s Farm
• the wine was a Spanish white, Naia D.O. Rueda 2014, from Verdejo old vines
• the music was Giovanni Paisiello’s 1782 ‘Il Barbiere di Siviglia‘ (one of the composer’s 94 operas), conducted by Adam Fisher

 

* see this recipe for details (in which I incorporated Gaeta olives, salted capers, and one salted anchovy, all from Buon Italia, and some chopped fresh thyme from Keith’s Farm)

Note to self:  This entire meal was a tasty delight, presumably as much for the quality of the ingredients as for the simple preparation, and accolades go to the modest cheese course as well (small portions of three cheeses, and some whole wheat toasts), which is not described here.

 

At the Greenmarket on Saturday I tried to think of something with which the beautiful purple okra I had picked up earlier would be a good match.  Then I was happily reminded that 3-Corner Field Farm was a part of the Union Square Greenmarket on that day. I bought a package of four thick loin chops, which were frozen.  When I got home, I let them defrost just enough to separate the sections, so that I could place two chops in the freezer, and also two in the refrigerator, where they would defrost overnight.

The entrée I put together the next day represented the fairly rare appearance of red meat on our table, especially in the summer, but this particular appearance was a very good one.

• two thick loin lamb chops from 3-Corner Field Farm, cooked on a very hot grill pan for about 4 minutes on each side, finished with one small sliced shallot from John C. Madura Farms,  a squeeze of lemon, a spreading of wood sorrel butter (the sorrel from Bodhitree Farm), and a drizzle of olive oil
• purple okra from Lani’s Farm, sautéed with crushed dried chiles in an iron pan over a high flame, seasoned with salt and pepper
• sliced red and yellow heirloom tomatoes from Stokes Farm, dressed with some good olive oil, salt, pepper, and a small amount of balsamic vinegar
• the wine was an Italian red, a very good Poliziano Rosso di Montepulciano 2012
• the music was an incredibly exciting performance of St. John Cage’s ‘Credo in Us’, by the Amadinda Percussion Group

 

• wild Alaskan Sockeye salmon fillet from Whole Foods, seasoned, rubbed on one side with a mixture of ground coriander, seeds, cloves, cumin, and nutmeg, sautéed three minutes on one side, two on the other, skin side, then finished with drops of lemon and a bit of olive oil;  the very simple recipe is pretty much the same as one described by Mark Bittman in the New York Times a few years ago
• green and purple okra from Norwich Meadows Farm, sautéed along with dried chiles in an iron pan over a high flame, seasoned with salt and pepper
• a fresh Loire red, Complices de Loire Jus de Gamay Touraine 2012

There were two courses in the meal we enjoyed last night.  The appetizer was a serving of sautéed pimiento de padron from Bodhitree Farm, finished with a sprinkling of flaky Maldon salt.

The main course consisted of two really terrific 5-ounce ribeye steaks from Dixon Farmstand Meats, pan-grilled and finished with lemon, lovage (from Keith’s Farm), and oil.  They were accompanied by both green and purple okra (from Bodhitree Farm, like the pimiento), sautéed with red pepper flakes.  There was also a little radicchio, from Tamarack Hollow Farm, which was quartered, dipped in oil, a bit of balsamic vinegar, and minced garlic, pan-grilled, sprinkled with salt, and finally dressed with some of the reserved balsamic mixture.  The other contorno was a small plate of radish greens from Norwich Meadow Farms, sautéed in oil in which a garlic clove had been softened.

The wine with both courses was a Castilla-La Mancha Tempranillo, Venta Morales 2012

 

Friday night dinner.

Barry found the recipe. I do the cooking, but he’s very, very good at ordering. I don’t mean ordering me, but ordering food in restaurants or at take out, where I, on the other hand, usually freeze up. It turns out he’s also good at spotting recipes. This was a really good one.

I halved the recipe on the delish site, and I made a few changes, substituting mint for the dill I didn’t have; red onion for “onion”, because I love red onion; vesuvio pasta for spaghetti (same); smoked steelhead trout for salmon, because we’ve recently come to love our local steelhead, also because it’s what I had on hand that day; and finally, since I can’t usually leave good enough alone, and to enhance the visuals, I added a garnish, chervil here, one of my favorites.

• a tablespoon or so of olive oil heated inside a large antique copper pot over medium heat,
  one medium/large chopped shallot cooked until softened, one clove of chopped garlic added and heated until fragrant, 2 tablespoons of white wine [poured in and stirred until it had almost completely, 3 ounces of heavy cream and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice added and stirred until thickened, the sauce seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground  black pepper before 4 ounces of smoked local steelhead trout (farmed by Hudson Valley Fisheries, in Hudson, NY), a few tablespoons of rinsed large Sicilian salted capers and a generous amount of a mint hybrid (spearmint and Peppermint) mixed in and heated briefly, or just only until the salmon had warmed through, then 8 ounces of a Gragnano Campania pasta (Afeltra Vesuvio) cooked al dente added to the pot, along with almost a cup of the pasta cooking water, and tossed together with the sauce, adding more water if desired, before the dish was  arranged inside shallow bowls, scattered with a little more mint, and garnished with chervil from Eckerton Hill Farm

There was a first course.

• a few ounces of ‘Bulgarian feta” from Moxie Ridge Farm & Creamery sprinkled with a bit of crushed dried aji dulce pepper from Ekerton Hill Farm and some torn basil taken from a live plant purchased from Stokes Farm, drizzled with a bit of Palagio Tuscan olive oil
• slices of Runner & Stone ‘Bolzano’ whole wheat and rye sourdough miche

 

• the wine throughout the meal was an Italian (Sicily) white, Stefano di Blasi IGT Sicilia Zibibbo Catarratto 2019, from Naked Wines 
• the music (through some of the meal) was Paul Dessau’s 1978 opera, ‘Leonce und Lena’ (after Georg Büchner’s 1836 play of the same name), in a 1980 performance with Otmar Suitner conducting the Berlin Staatskapelle Orchestra and Berlin State Opera Chorus, with Peter Menzel, Reiner Süss, Carola Nossek, Edda Schaller, and others [noting here that the state at the time was the DDR, or Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic)