Sole Español with Zucchini and Peppers

Sunday March 9

The snow had melted a bit, so we and our friend Julie were able to slog to an admirable - and quite sexy - CCM performance of "L'incoronazione di Poppaea" this afternoon. Afterwards, we drove back to our place, had a glass or three of wine, and snacked on olives, marinated artichokes, Holt's fresh-baked focaccia (produced while waiting for the beans to burn yesterday) and fava hummus (okay, still Turkish fartcake, but mushed up with extra oil, salt, coriander and cumin) while we made Dover sole for dinner.

We got the sole frozen from Trader Joe's - it seems they've stopped stocking our old standby tilapia because it came from China. But we would have preferred sole nevertheless, especially since it comes from the good ol' USA - where we've had about as many tainted food scares and scandals as the Chinese any day.

Oddly, TJ's puts about a pound and a half of frozen sole fillets in each bag. That is way too much for a single dinner, even for us, but it's fine for us plus Julie. While the bag did its final defrost under water, we sliced three zucchini and one enormous red bell pepper into batons.

The vedge sautéd in one pan with olive oil and salt, while the fillets got dusted with pimentón de la Vera and fried in oil in a different - far larger - pan. The smoky paprika gave the fish a Spanish flavor, thus the name. But the tiny thin fillets flake apart while being flipped, so perhaps next time we'll broil or bake them instead of frying.