A balanced diet

Eastside Road, August 21, 2016—

COOK DOES HER BEST to keep me healthy, she really does. One of her weapons is fish, which we try to eat at least once a week; and the presence of Dave the Fish Guy at the local market makes that relatively easy.

When we're down in Berkeley, though, she often stops by Monterey Fish. That's where the clams came from the other day, and that was the source of tonight's local flounder, which she floured lightly and fried, serving it with lima beans from Middleton Gardens and tomatoes from … well, somewhere else; not exactly sure where; local I'm sure.

Meantime my own thoughts had strayed in another direction, and I was the one who'd gone to the market yesterday — directed to buy only those lima beans. (Get at least two pounds!)

Our friends Bert and Mary had a basket of pimentos at their stand. It's the season for peppers: Padrones, Jimmy Nardellos, long Italians and Hungarians, and all the rest. I am particularly fond of the pimento, which Larousse Gastronomique considers a generic word describing just about any red pepper, but which I think of as essentially red, relatively round but with a pronounced point at the blossom end, sweet, but with more flavor than the ordinary bell pepper — and somehow a little smoky.

I got half a dozen of these little guys, each no bigger than the palm of my hand, and cut them in half lengthwise and grilled them dry in the black iron skillet, then added a little water and a little olive oil, reduced the heat, and covered them, to steam-cook them tender. (I later wished I had peeled them after grilling them: I was too impatient this evening!)

When they were done I set them on toasts and filled them with pork rillettes, yes I did. I suppose the rillettes countered the efficacy of the fish, healthwise, but I didn't really care.

Bellinis first; then rosé, La Ferme Julien

☛RESTAURANTS VISITED, with information and rating:  2016   2015