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1 tablespoon roughly chopped

Marcona or regular almonds

1 small carrot, sliced into short

ribbons using a vegetable

peeler

1 tablespoon raisins or currants

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

¼ cup water

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

This is my version of escabèche, a dish of Spanish origin with variations in many cuisines, in which you sear or poach fish or meat and then marinate it in a vinegary sauce. A refreshing dish, it is usually served cold or at room temperature in hot climates. Halibut is mild and somewhat delicate, and most people treat it so—serving it simply, just pan-fried, with light butter sauces or in broths. I think there is also a firmness and blank-slate quality to halibut that make me want to spice it up for a night, send it to Spain, see what trouble it gets into. Escabèche with anchovy salsa verde does just that.

SERVES 4

To prepare the rub, finely grind the peppercorns, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, bay leaves, brown sugar, and salt in a spice grinder. Coat the halibut fillets with the rub and set aside in the refrigerator while you make the salsa verde.

To prepare the salsa verde, add all of its ingredients to a food processor and blend to a smooth purée. Set aside.

To prepare the halibut, in a large sauté pan over high heat, add the vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add the fillets skin side up and cook until the fish is browned on one side, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip the halibut carefully and continue cooking until a nice brown crust develops and the fish is just flaking, about 8 minutes total per inch of fish (measured at its thickest point). Remove the fillets just before you think they are done. Lightly cover them and set aside.

To prepare the garnish, add the olive oil to the pan you cooked the fish in and turn the heat to medium high. Add the red onion and salt, and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the onions have softened. Add the almonds, carrot, raisins, and paprika. Sauté for 2 minutes, or until the nuts are toasted, and then deglaze the pan with the water. Reduce until there is no liquid left and then add the sherry vinegar. Stir well and pour the mixture over the halibut. Cover the fish to keep it warm and allow it to marinate with the garnish for 10 minutes. Uncover and serve with the salsa verde on the side.

PAIRING: A vinho verde, such as Quinta da Aveleda 2008, Casal Garcia, Portugal, or a verdelho.

smoked halibut with stinging nettle sauce and nettle gnocchi

3 ounces fresh morels (about

1 cup), or 1 ounce dried

morels

Nettle Gnocchi (recipe follows)

1 cup blanched, drained, and

chopped nettles,34 reserved

from the Nettle Gnocchi

1 bunch fresh Italian parsley

leaves

1 cup plain Greek-style yogurt

1½ teaspoons salt

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

½ cup mushroom stock (from

rehydrating the dried morels

or purchased stock)

Freshly ground pepper

1 pound halibut fillet, cut into

4 equal portions

½ cup apple wood or alder

wood chips (optional)

2 tablespoons high-heat

vegetable oil

¼ cup salmonberry blossoms35

(optional)

We must have a deliriously starving person who got lost in the woods to thank for discovering that nettles are delicious and healthful. This person must have fallen into a stinging nettle patch mouth agape, and while screaming in pain, decided to eat the plant to exact revenge upon the aggressor. This dish is a celebration of spring vitality and the foraging spirit. So many delicious edibles come together here: halibut from the ocean, wood from the trees to use for smoking, nettles so easily dismissed as weeds, salmonberry blossoms for color, and morels found in secret spots deep in the woods, hidden in the dirt and brush. To the victor go the spoils.

SERVES 4

If you have fresh morels, fry a test one to see if it is sandy. If so, you’ll want to quickly rinse the morels in several changes of cold water and test another one for grit. When they are clean, dry them on paper towels and halve them lengthwise. If you are using dried morels, rehydrate them in a small bowl of very hot tap water to cover. (Place a small bowl